Surviving the Threat
by sportzgrl627
Summary: Rating May Change - Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, a slow development of HarryGinny along with the same thing for RonHermione, Book 6 really, but with MY plot, Voldemort's threats still there, how will the Harry trio handle year 6? Read NOW and REVIEW
1. Late Night Ponders

Disclaimer: Much to my dismay, I do not own any aspect of the Harry Potter realm, all of it is owned by the gifted author, J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers and all those other people.

A/N: Hey guys, This is my first story ever, but I've read probably 1,000 others, so I think I'm semi qualified, and I'm tryin' really hard. I dedicate this story to Mcd, because she made me do it haha. So... Please R&R, and if you have any suggestions, tell me! But in a nice way ï. But really, read the story. Because: I put a lot of effort into it. Please.

-Lauren

Chapter 1.

There were no clouds in the starry sky, as Harry looked out his window on 4 Private Drive. Images of escaping through this same window only 4 years ago flooded his mind. He recalled his innocence then, when his biggest worries were an upcoming exam or the taunts of Draco Malfoy. _Yeah, _Harry thought, _the days when Voldemort and Death Eaters attacks were the farthest things from my mind..._ Since school, Harry spent many of his waking thoughts about Voldemort... or Sirius. Although Harry had already received countless owls from Hermione, Ron, Lupin and his other friends telling him he mustn't blame himself for Sirius's death, he did. He had to, Harry was stupid and allowed himself to get lured to the ministry, and Sirius only went to save his stubborn arse.

Harry shook his head violently, trying to escape his train of thought. Harry took one last look at the dimly lit street outside his window and walked back over to his bed to continue reading. Since Mr. Weasley and Mad-Eye Moody had their little talk with the Dursleys, Uncle Vernon had allowed Harry to do read his book during the day, as long as he stayed in his room and kept the door closed since it was a magic ("Boy! Don't say that word!") related book. Hermione had sent him a book about quidditch strategy she found at a bookstore to keep his mind off things. He hated to admit it, but she was terribly right; he needed desperately to keep his mind off things, and this book was proving to be very helpful.

As Harry finished the chapter he was on, his eyelids began to feel heavy. He put down his book and drifted off to sleep.

A bolt of red light hit the chest on the body of a man wearing rather tattered clothes. Slowly his stiff body tilted backwards, his long black hair floating in the opposite direction from the rest of him. His eyes shone brightly with the radiance that was once visible when he was a youth as his head gently hit a darkly colored, mysterious veil. The veil fluttered slightly as the body of the man was seemingly hidden by the odd fabric. However, there was no one behind the veil; the man was gone.

"SIRIUS!" Harry screamed.

It all came rushing back quickly: A pained Mr. Weasley pale in the face as blood gushed from his shoulder after a snake attack; sharp pain in the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead; looking over the shoulders of a group of Gryffindors huddled around a newspaper with the faces of 10 escaped prisoners staring back; watching 5 of his closest friends insistently mount thestrals to join him on his quest to the ministry; a large brain wrapping its tentacles tightly around Ron's head and arms; Hermione lying on the ground stunned; Ginny sitting in pain clutching her ankle; Sirius falling over and over through the veil...

"No!......."

"No! Sirius..." Harry exclaimed as he shot up right in his small bed on 4 Private Drive. His body was drenched in sweat and he was tangled in his sheets after thrashing in them for hours in his sleep. He wiped his forehead with the hem of his shirt as he tried not to recall the image that of Sirius's death that had been haunting his dreams. _I caused that death... He'd done so much for me... He was so close to being acknowledge as a free man- so close to being able to do whatever he wanted after 15 years of just the opposite, and I ruined it all._

"No. I must stop." Harry thought out loud suddenly. And with that thought, he closed his eyes and continued sleeping –although this time without dreams.


	2. Goings and Comings

Chapter 2

Harry woke up later than usual Friday morning (or was now almost afternoon). Mr. Weasley and other members of the Order were going to be picking him up at 7 o'clock tonight (after work). Harry didn't know much about the plans because they still couldn't say much in owl post – for fear of interception – but he assumed they'd be flying to Headquarters on broomstick like last year, which also explains the time the adults would be arriving.

He would have to spend his day packing, as he spread out his belongings more than usual this year since the Dursleys couldn't really do anything about it.

After walking lazily down the stairs with his hair messier than ever and his oversized pajama pants riding dangerously low on his hips, Harry discovered his large cousin sitting like always glued to the television and his aunt cleaning up after breakfast. Uncle Vernon had apparently already left for work and Harry was quite pleased he wouldn't have to be the recipient of an endless stream of loathing glares.

Aunt Petunia presented him with a plate filled with leftovers from breakfast: cold sausages and a bit of fruit. Like usual, Dudley had eaten most of the fruit since he wasn't allowed to eat sausages. Dudley returned home from boarding school once again with a letter from the nurse concerning Dudley's weight. Aunt Petunia was getting quite worried and set him on a stricter diet and Uncle Vernon made him a workout schedule – much to Harry's amusement. He wasn't even aware Dudley's fat legs could run, besides to the refrigerator. But, without fail, every day, Dudley ran around the neighborhood for half an hour at 11 and then at 3 he did an hour of weight lifting on his brand new very expensive (as emphasized by Uncle Vernon) workout equipment. It was supposed to help him train for boxing, but Harry knew Dudley saw it as training to beat up helpless younger kids. When Dudley wasn't around, Harry sometimes used the equipment also; he might as well get some use out of it and get in some shape for quidditch after barely playing last year.

After Harry finished his meager breakfast, he trudged back up the stairs to his room to begin his packing. It was going to take a lot longer than last year when Tonks magically folded and put everything in his trunk, but Harry really didn't mind seeing as he had nothing better to do.

He didn't really mind though, having nothing to do. In fact, for the first time, he wouldn't mind staying at Private Drive a little longer. It's not that he liked it here, but he just wasn't ready yet, not ready for so many things. To begin with, he wasn't ready to be around everyone. Yes, going to Grimmauld Place was fun, but there were so many people. Just the Weasley family alone was enough people for Harry to start feeling uncomfortable. Most of the time, he loved the presence of all the people, but not now, not after... Sirius...gone. He couldn't stand all the people; all their pity, expecting so much from him all the time. Was he expected to behave the same knowing that the weight of the wizarding world (and the muggle world too actually) was all on HIS shoulders. _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord....neither can live while the other survives..._ It was all up to Harry, and quite frankly Harry wasn't up to the responsibility. He was feeling just about ready to live a normal life about now after 5 years of being The-Boy-Who-Lived. He didn't quite care for becoming The-Boy-Who-Lived-But-Then-Let-Us-All-Down. And he was different now, and he didn't know quite how to deal with it. _If Sirius was around I could have gone to him for help... **But he's not, great job! **_Harry's mind yelled at him. The only family he'd ever had gone before he ever really got the chance to get to know him. He was overwhelmed by the injustice of the situation.

"Why me?!" Harry wondered aloud for the zillionth time this summer, "Why does every goddamn thing have to happen to me?!" _Because I was marked the day my parents died, _Harry remembered. Voldemort did it to him. And Harry would either have to kill him or be killed by him. In this situation, most people would be quite fearful, but Harry wasn't. After defying Voldemort 4 times already, it was more determination to finish him off once and for all than fear of being finished off himself. Voldemort had hurt so many people in Harry's life ... the extreme hatred Harry felt for him coursed through his veins in a wave of heat. He flexed his muscles and grinded his teeth viciously thinking about the "Lord" who had ruined his life. Harry picked up one of his old books and threw it with all his might into his trunk. It landed on the bottom of the empty trunk with a loud deep "thunk".

Harry had to stop doing this. He couldn't just think about this all the time and then go off in an angry rage. He was about to be stuck in a house with a minimum of 7 people at all times. Harry ran a hand through his messy black hair, took a deep break, and continued folding his socks. He'd folded all of his clothes and put them on his bed when he saw them, reflecting small bits of light onto the sides of the trunk...the broken pieces of glass from the mirror Sirius had given him. Last year he'd thrown it into the trunk and it broke . Harry took one of his oldest socks and put all the pieces in it then tucked it safely in the corner of his trunk, but not before one tear slid slowly down Harry's cheek It wasn't the first time Harry had cried over Sirius, he had done it quite often, but only when he was alone. He just couldn't get over it... BUT now was not the time to think about it, Harry had to finish packing. He put all his clothes on one side of his trunk. He had more than usual because this year he asked Aunt Petunia to take him shopping. He didn't usually do something like that, but he promised he'd send money to pay her back, and he desperately needed some clothes. He felt like he was growing as fast as Ron!

Harry next moved on to his books and what parchment he had left from last year. He didn't have any homework this summer since he didn't know yet how he did on his O.W.L.s yet which affects which N.E.W.T. classes he'd be in. O.W.L.s were supposed to come out mid-July, but they sent letters to the students telling them they'd gotten delayed because of the current frantic situation the ministry was in because of Voldemort's return. All the departments were having to temporarily help out in some way or another. Harry didn't mind, in fact he didn't _want _to see his results. Hermione, on the other hand, wrote him a disgruntled letter after she received her letter regarding the delay. She seemed to think Fudge was an insolent cheesehead that would have no idea how to run the ministry properly even if directions popped out of the toaster oven and got lodged in his nose. Harry recalled Hermione's foot-long letter and smiled slightly; even in the worst of times Hermione seemed to still be able to obsess over academics. "She _needs_ to sort out her priorities" Harry remembered Ron saying after Hermione told them it'd be worse for them to get expelled than die.

* * *

After a quick lunch he made himself, Harry gathered all of his books and stacked them nicely in his trunk. Then he gathered his parchment, ink and quills and put them in too. In the corner of his room resting nicely against the wall was his beloved Firebolt. Dumbledore had sent it to him with Fawkes during the first week of the summer after recovering it from the dungeons. Harry walked over and picked up the expensive broom, but couldn't help but be reminded of Sirius. Sirius had bought it for Harry before he even knew him. Harry could have been an evil rotten kid for all he knew, but Sirius still cared about him and bought him it. With an audible sigh, Harry picked up the broom and his broom servicing kit that was right next to it and put them on the bed. After one last polish of the handle he packed up the servicing kit and put it in his trunk. He reached under his bed for the final thing he had to pack – the old photo album he had received so long ago with pictures of his parents. He flipped through it quickly, scared to get too caught up and emotional. He saw the loving smiles his parents always had, and wondered if he'd ever be like that, if his life would ever be normal.

Harry closed his trunk and trudged downstairs for his last dinner with the Dursleys. He got there just in time for "Boy! Quit standing there and set the table!"

"Yes Aunt Petunia," Harry replied in the most bored voice he could muster.

After setting the table for the 4 of them, Uncle Vernon arrived home from work and they sat down for a nice healthy dinner in very small portions.

"Dudley got his letter from school today, he's to start September 5th," Petunia told her husband excitedly.

"Oh that's splendid, isn't it Dud!"

"Yupgh" Dudley grunted in reply with his mouth full of food.

"Boy – when do we have to drop you off at the train so you can go to the ruddy place your kind goes to?" Harry's head snapped up from his plate to glare briefly at his uncle.

"Well I'm leaving tonight, so you won't have to worry about it" Harry replied in a happy voice.

"You better not try any funny business! I will not have my house destroyed like the last few times those people have come to get you!"

"Well... I'm not really sure how they'll be coming." Harry replied with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Not sure?! Well I'm warning you... If you do one thing that could attract the neighbors or destroy my house," at this point Uncle Vernon was leaning so far across the table to snarl in Harry's face the table was tipping trying to support almost his whole body weight (which Harry noted is quite a lot of weight), "then I will not allow you back in this house no matter what the bloody hell is going on in that freaky little world of yours!"

"Erm... er...I don't think that will be a problem, after all, we do have a little bit more power than you do, with our magic and all, wouldn't you agree?" Harry stated coolly as he pull out his wand.

"Out! I want you out of this house!" Uncle Vernon yelled as he rose from the table, face turning his signature red with a tinge of purple.

"Fine," and with that last word, Harry turned and walked quickly to his room. He dragged his trunk down the stairs and went back up to retrieve Hedwig's empty cage (she was out hunting) and his broom. He took his items outside and sat down on the doorstep.

He couldn't run away, he knew he would be in much danger, he hadn't been allowed to leave the yard (Dumbledore's orders) all summer. Even if there was an Order member following him at all times, they wouldn't help if a large group of death eaters attacked, which would be highly likely these days. And so, Harry decided to just wait on the doorstep for a half hour until it was 7:00 and he could leave Little Whinging.

Harry lied down and stared up at the vast expanse of black sky above him. After a while his eyes began to feel very heavy, and before he knew it he was in a light sleep.

* * *

Suddenly, Harry felt a small amount of pain coming from his left leg.

"Ah!" Harry exclaimed as he opened his eyes to see 5 hooded figures standing and looking down at him, one of which was kicking his leg to wake him. He quickly reached into his back pocket to grab his wand but was startled to find it wasn't there. A look of shock worthy of Ron Weasley suddenly consumed Harry's face – he was defenseless and there were 5 Death Eaters (he assumed) standing in front of him.

"Don't worry Harry; we wouldn't really hurt you," one of the Death Eaters said as they lowered their hood and handed back his wand, "Not today at least". Harry tense body suddenly relaxed as he recognized the young smiling face of Nymphadora Tonks. Harry couldn't even think of anything to say.

"Potter! What do you have to say for yourself! What have I always said! Constant vigilance! You're not very powerful when you're on the ground sleeping where anyone can get you! And your wand just sitting there in your back pocket for anyone to grab!" Harry turned to find that another one of the 'Death Eaters' had removed their hood and he was face to face with a furious Mad-Eye Moody.

"I... er... knew you were coming soon, and they can't get me while I'm here anyway," Harry told him tentatively.

"You can never be too sure boy, anything could come and get you," Moody replied

A hand patted Harry's shoulder and he looked up at his ex-professor Remus Lupin, looking as tired as ever, who was rolling his eyes, "It's ok, Harry, we're happy to see you no matter how vigilant you've been!" Lupin pulled Harry into a quick manly hug, with a firm pat on the back.

"Good to see you Harry!" Arthur Weasley said as he also pulled Harry into a hug.

"Hey Mr. Weasley," Harry managed to reply before Tonks grabbed his hand for an excited handshake.

"Harry! Long time no see!" She said in her always upbeat manner.

Harry was about to reply when he heard the deep voice he recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt, "Glad to see you're well, Harry," Kingsley said calmly as usual.

"You too," Harry said.

"Well then, best be off, don't want to linger too long then, do we?" Mr. Weasley said with a glance at his watch.

"Are we flying again, then?" Harry asked.

"Yep! Great way to travel! Don't you think?" Tonks replied cheerily.

"Yah, sure," Harry said.

"Well then, disillusionment charms everybody," Mr. Weasley told the group. Everyone took out their wands and cast the charm on themselves that Harry remembered well from his experience last year. After Mr. Weasley put the charm on himself, he turned and put it on Harry. Harry felt the slightly familiar cold trickles running down his body.

"Right then, everyone grab your brooms," Harry reached over to pick up his broom and noticed Lupin shrink his trunk and cage and put them in his pocket, "I'll be leading in the front; Harry you'll be in the middle; Mad-Eye you'll be in the back; Remus, Tonks, and Kingsley, you three will be rotating who is on the top, bottom and side. Ok, then mount your brooms and we're off!" With the command from Mr. Weasley Harry straddled his broom and kicked off.

He followed about 10 feet behind Mr. Weasley, or really Mr. Weasley's broom since he was a bit hard to see because he was disillusioned. They ascended high in the air fairly quickly and soon the houses and cars below were nothing but ants to Harry. He was very thankful that it was considerably warmer this year than last year even though he'd thought to wear heavier clothes. _Better safe than sorry_, Harry thought, briefly noting how much he sounded like Hermione.

When Harry watched Mr. Weasley's broom level, he knew they'd reached the height they'd stay at the rest of the flight. He looked down below him and watched as they passed town after town.

They'd only been up in the air for what Harry felt like was 5 minutes (but he knew was actually hours) before Mr. Weasley turned around and called, "We'll be beginning the descent now!"

Harry watched Mr. Weasley's broom angle slightly towards the ground and he followed suit, eager to be on the ground where he could continue the slumber he began before being startled nearly to death by his escorts.

They were nearing the ground and Harry watched as the houses suddenly became bigger and his field of vision became smaller. He saw each car distinctly on the highway and the individual streetlights lighting up the streets they were on. As they descended even further he could see through the windows of the houses; he saw mainly darkness as it was quite late but also saw TV's and lamps on.

Mr. Weasley slowed down considerably and then had a nice gentle landing. Harry copied him exactly, as did the four escorts. He felt suddenly like an egg had been cracked open on his head before he realized that Mr. Weasley was removing the disillusionment charm.

Harry looked around and recognized that they were standing in front of none other than 12 Grimmauld Place. _Sirius's house..._ Harry thought.

"Hurry up there, Potter! We need to get inside as soon as we can!" Moody hissed at Harry. Harry suddenly realized everyone else was up ahead walking towards the house while Harry had been standing there staring. Harry's legs felt very heavy as he picked them slowly up and followed the rest towards the familiar black door. Standing behind the other five people he could barely see the twisted serpent door knocker. Before he knew it the door was open and he was standing in the dark hallway of Grimmauld Place.

The door closed quickly but quietly behind him and he followed everyone else into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley was sitting drinking tea by herself when the six of them entered the room.

"Oh, so glad you've made it!" She squealed quietly at the group as she rushed out of her seat towards Harry, "Harry dear, oh its so great to see you," she said as she pulled him into a tight hug, "Oh, I'd say you've grown a bit in the past month or so, and you're just getting more handsome every day!"

"Yeah, our Harry is quite the looker!" Tonks said as she nudged Harry slightly.

Harry blushed slightly at the complements, "It's nice to see you too Mrs. Weasley".

"Harry dear, I'm sure your tired after the long flight, all the other kids are in bed, Hermione also just got here today. Why don't you just head on up to bed, you'll be in the same room as last year with Ron, we can bring your trunk and things up in the morning."

Harry was very thankful for Mrs. Weasley's suggestion because he was _extremely_ tired and wanted nothing more than a nice long sleep.


	3. Reacquainted and More

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter Realm is mine, still. JK Rowling is just amazing. If I were her, this would belong to me. But I'm not, so it doesn't. Nothing belongs to me, how sad.

A/N:

I would just like to thank all of the other ff writers out there, some of you are just amazing, and I hope my writing will be as good someday

I'd also like to thank all of the people, which would be everyone, who don't read this story. Or maybe you do read this story, but you don't review, so I have no idea if you actually read this story or not, so I assume you don't, which makes me sad, which makes me not want to write, which is why I haven't updated in like a year. So in conclusion, leave a review, or I will be sad and loose inspiration. Thanks, Lauren

* * *

Chapter 3

When Harry finally woke up the next morning light was already streaming through the window.

The door opened carefully and with little noise and Harry watched as a bright orange mob of hair gradually appeared in the doorway followed by the familiar face of Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley.

"Hey mate! I thought you'd never wake up," Ron said excitedly to his friend.

"Oy, what time is it?" Harry asked.

"Nearly noon, mum told me to come and get you and tell you lunch is ready, everyone wants to see you," Ron replied.

Harry got out from beneath the covers on his bed and found his trunk already next to his bed. He opened it up and took out some of his new jeans and a new t shirt and dressed quickly. When he walked over to the door, however, to exit the room, he realized the walls were now painted red instead of the usual white. And handle of the door was a fresh new looking gold color instead of the old rusty silver with a snake motif. As Harry looked around, he realized the whole room had been redone, with nice wood flooring and everything. Harry noted to himself to ask about it during lunch.

As he walked down the stairs to the kitchen, Harry noticed that most of the house had been redone. As he looked into everyone else's bedrooms, they all were a similar red or a rich golden color. _Gryffindor colors, _Harry thought, _Mrs. Black would die if she could see the house now..._

When Harry entered the kitchen he was temporarily pleased to see many smiling faces looking up at him but was slightly disconcerted that he could see a bit of pity towards him in each of their eyes.

"Harry!" Hermione squealed as she jumped up from her seat at the table to hug him.

"Hey Harry!" Ginny said rather excitedly from her seat.

"Harry, quite tired weren't we there, dear," Mrs. Weasley said as she ushered him to the table, "Come have some food, you must be hungry from that long trip last night and I daresay that Aunt and Uncle of yours haven't fed you nearly enough".

"Harry!" Fred exclaimed giving him a big pat on the back.

"Good to see you!" George said with an equally big pat.

"Nice to see all of you," Harry said looking a bit overwhelmed, "Fred, George, are you guys living at Grimmauld Place now?".

"Oh no," Fred began.

"We're here for the summer, just like you," George continued.

"But we're really only doing it because we're afraid dear old mumsy would miss us to much if two more of her little birdies were to leave the nest so soon," Fred said in a very audible whisper.

"So when these babies of the family leave for school again," George said gesturing towards Ron and Ginny.

"We will be getting a flat of our own near our shop," Fred said merrily.

"And since our business has been, how do I say this," George said while grinning.

"BOOMING really," Fred continued his brother's sentence.

"It will be _quite_ the flat, you should visit us sometime!" George finished with a wink.

"Er... ya sure," Harry replied uneasily unsure of what to say.

The rest of the meal was spent talking pleasantly talking about quidditch, and O.W.L.'s and many other topics, but never going close to touching upon Voldemort, Sirius, or the events of last term.

Once the meal ended, the twins decided to apparate back to their shop, and Ginny rushed upstairs to write an owl to her current boyfriend, Dean Thomas.

The trio trudged up the stairs to Ron and Harry's room, walked inside and closed the door. They sat down together on the floor facing one another, each expecting a serious conversation about events of the summer so far.

"Hermione, Ron's mum said something about you just getting here yesterday too. Did you visit with your parents?" Harry asked looking very curious.

Hermione's face which had been looking very healthy and happy suddenly lost all of its color and it looked as if any second she might become sick. "Well, you see, I went to Italy on vacation with my parents for the first few weeks, and then I went back home to stay with them as long as possible before..." Hermione looked down, tears welling in her eyes.

"Before what?" Harry asked.

"Before... my parents have to go into hiding," Hermione replied slowly, as though just realizing what she was saying.

"Hiding?" Ron asked after a few moments.

"Yes, um, well," Hermione began before having to wipe a tear from her eyes with a sniffle, "the Order seems to think they're at risk for an attack from V – Voldemort, since they're muggles and even more because they're my parents, and well, I'm at the top of our class, and I'm muggle-born, and I'm," by this point Hermione could not suppress her tears and they were flowing steadily from her eyes as she sobbed out the rest of her words, "friends with Harry, but Oh Harry! I don't blame you! It's my decision to stay with you, and that is what I'm going to do!" Hermione was now weeping into her hands as Ron scooted closer to her and awkwardly snaked an arm around her. She immediately put her head on his shoulder and continued crying. He tried comforting the best he could, although this was a completely new experience for him, he never usually found himself this close to a girl at all. Soon he was stroking her hair gently and whispering "Shhh... don't worry, it'll all be ok". Meanwhile Harry was looking at the floor with a look of horror and sadness upon his bright green eyes.

"I," Harry began hesitantly after a few minutes, "I put your family in danger, they could be sought after, and hurt, all because you are friends with _me_."

"Harry that's not true," Hermione replied quickly, wiping the last tears from her eyes, "they might have been targeted anyways just because I'm a muggle born or because I'm smart."

"Mate, there's something we need to talk about, and you need to listen or you'll be mad at yourself for the rest of your life," Ron said in a more serious voice then neither Harry nor Hermione had ever heard him use, "Hermione and I have talked about it before, and we KNOW the consequences of being your friend. We are AWARE that we are in danger just for knowing you, but you have to understand this, it is OUR choice. We're not going to go hop on our brooms and ditch you just because Voldemort's after you or something. We're here with you forever – you can't get rid of us," Ron finished with a slight grin as he blushed a few shades and looked at his friends.

After Hermione got over the shock of Ron actually saying something helpful, not to mention rather intelligent sounding she continued Ron's speech, "Yes Harry, Ron is completely right, we are ready to stand by your side for as long as we have to, no matter what that entails, that's what friends are for,".

"I...well..." Harry said at a loss for words, "er... only if you guys are sure about this."

"Harry, we're sure!" Hermione said a little louder than she intended.

"Ok, then thanks, truly," Harry said, finally getting that Gryffindor courage to look his two friends in the eyes, "I mean it."

"Any time," Ron said with a smile.

"Well, since we're being all open and all, there's something I desperately need to tell you," Harry said nervously, he'd been thinking about if he should tell them about the prophecy all summer, but after what his Ron and Hermione had just told him he was sure that he should. "You see, in the department of mysteries, the glass ball with my name on it, held a prophecy, written about me – and Voldemort. That's why it had my name on it. That whole room was full of prophecies."

"Oh I've read about prophecies back when I still took Divination!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly, "They are like predictions from Seers, said to be the most... truthful... form of divination, pretty much everyone believes them, even me! Although not much is known about how the Seers get the information, it is believed it is some how linked to time travel into the future although the body of the Seer does stay completely stationary during the delivery of a prophecy. Anyways, what does the prophecy say?" Hermione quickly explained.

"Well, I know it word for word, after thinking about it so much so uh here it is:

'_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_

"So..." Hermione began, but Harry knew she was about to ask a bunch of questions, so he stopped her first.

"Let me explain it, Dumbledore explained it all to me already, so it will be easier. First of all, my parents defied him three times and as you know, I'm born as the seventh month dies. And that's all great, except there is another boy born the same year at the end of July whose parents 'thrice defied him'"

"Who?" Hermione asked as she and Ron looked at Harry like he was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Neville," Harry stated.

"Neville _Longbottom_?" Ron asked as though those two words sounded completely wrong next to each other.

"Yeah, actually, but there's a reason the prophecy has my name on it, not his. Well, since it says that he marked me as his equal, which is when he left me this scar, I am for SURE the person this prophecy is talking about. Voldemort knew those first 2 sentences of the prophecy, and he knew that it was either me or Neville who he would end up 'marking as his equal', and he didn't choose Neville, the pureblood, he chose me, the half blood, like himself."

"Wow," Hermione said in the same voice the two boys recognized that she uses when talking to herself while reading an interesting book.

"I know," Harry continued, "So that is the only part of the prophecy Voldemort knows which is why he tried to get the prophecy this year, only the person who the prophecy is about can take it off the shelf, so either Voldemort had to walk into the ministry, or I had to go get it for him..." Harry's voice started drifting at that point.

"But Neville said he broke it, so Voldemort never actually heard the whole thing, did he?" Hermione asked sounding hopeful.

"Yah, he never got to hear the rest, so he didn't know that by trying to kill me he would mark me as his equal," Harry gestured toward his scar, "and the part about me having the power the Dark Lord knows not, well I don't really get it, but Dumbledore said something about a very powerful force that was in some locked room in the Department of Mysteries."

"I wonder what it is!" Hermione said excitedly, Ron also looked rather amazed yet a bit overwhelmed.

"Yah, me too, and then the last part... means that I have to kill him or he has to kill me, well its self-explanatory, but..." Harry didn't know what else to say, this was the part of the prophecy that disturbed him the most, the part he couldn't deal with, the part that made him just want to give it all up. He didn't know what to do; instinctively he got up and headed for the door – just wanting to escape this nightmare that happened to be his life. His hand was an inch away from the shiny gold doorknob before he felt a hand grab his wrist and spin him around. He was face to face with Hermione with Ron standing right beside her.

"Harry, no. Sit. We'll talk about this." Hermione said pleadingly.

"I don't see what there is to talk about – I have to KILL him, or ... he'll kill me," Harry finished in a barely audible whisper. At that moment Harry wanted nothing else but to disappear of the face of the earth. He wasn't up for this kind of challenge. He was only 15, he wasn't ready to kill an evil lord _or _be killed by one.

His trains of self-pitying, angry thoughts were interrupted by Hermione's hand on his shoulders forcing him to sit down on his bed. Ron quickly sat down on his left and Hermione on his right.

"Harry, we understand what you must be thinking, this is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. But remember what we just told you, we will be right by your side if that means helping you prepare or even in the battle itself." Hermione said in a soothing voice.

"Yah, mate, and we're really not the only ones who care about you. I'm sure Dumbledore and Lupin and the rest of my family feels the same way.

"There's a big difference between caring about someone and pitying them," Harry snapped back, "they don't care about me, Dumbledore does it all because the weight of the wizarding world is on _my_ shoulders, and everyone else just feels bad for the "Boy who's been attacked by Voldemort 4 times."

"Now that's not true and you know it! Dumbledore cares about you like you're his family," Hermione's tone started out harsh but softened considerably at this point, "everyone can tell by the way he looks at you with his twinkle thing, he is very proud of you, it practically radiates off him. Sure he cares about the future of the wizarding world, but he also cares about you. And the same goes for Lupin and Ron's family. Have you told them yet?

"No, you guys and Dumbledore are the only ones who know. I don't really know who else to tell besides you guys. I don't want the whole world to know. I don't... I don't think I'd be able to handle if people started treating me different."

"I can understand that," Ron said cautiously, not wanting to say the wrong thing to Harry but still wanting to show his support, "but _you_ get to choose who you want to know, and it's not like we're about to tell anyone."

"I guess you're right... It's not a big deal – I shouldn't be stressing," Harry commented.

"Don't forget that you don't have to do anything now, you can wait as long as you want," Hermione reminded Harry.

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right, I have time to think about it," Harry realized as he said it how stupid he was not to think that he didn't need to tell anyone else at the moment. If he decided he wanted to tell anyone else, he would, if not, he wouldn't.

After a long pause while it seemed all three were deep in thought, Hermione decided to break the silence, "So Ron, has anything happened here while we were gone?"

"Er... no, not really. Mum set me and Ginny to cleaning the rooms of the house that Sirius never re-did. There's only been a few order meetings, but like usual there's been people stopping by. Lots of people stay for dinner a lot, but they never really discuss anything. Well, I do know that the Order is working hard now to expand its numbers. Since Voldemort is out in the open now, we can get people in the ministry to join, and people believe us for sure. Ginny and I also overheard mum and dad saying that Voldemort's really going to start trying to get new members too or at least that's what Dumbledore thinks."

"We should be allowed to join the Order this year," Harry responded.

"Yah, good luck with that one, mate. I don't think my mum will ever let me. Fred and George couldn't even join last year when they were 7th years," Ron replied rather unhappily.

They spent another long period in silence as everyone continued to absorb all the information they'd discuss.

"Anyone want to play some chess?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Well I'm rubbish with a chessboard, Harry why don't you play with Ron?" Hermione said.

"Ok, Ron – you're on," Harry said aggressively but knowing he was going to lose.

Midway through Harry and Ron's game, they began to hear Order members coming in (they knew because of the occasional scream of Mrs. Black) and then they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Hermione yelled looking up from the book she had been reading to occupy herself during the chess game.

Ginny opened the door shyly, which was unusual for her lately.

"Finally done writing to that boyfriend of yours then, are you?" Ron asked a little meaner than he intended. Even though Ginny's boyfriend, Dean Thomas, was his friend he still thought she could do better.

"Well, actually, I'm done writing to him for good." Ginny said with a slight blush.

"What? What do you mean?" Hermione asked quickly with sudden interest in the conversation.

"Well, that's why I was writing with him so long. We were having a bit of a row, because he kept mentioning Lavender Brown in every single conversation we had in some way or another. Saying how nice she is or telling me something funny she'd said. So jokingly, I said that if I didn't know better it'd seem like it was _she_ he had a crush on, not me. And when he wrote back, he said that he was sorry, but he couldn't help himself, and he hoped we could still go out! Can you believe that? He TOLD me he had a crush on LAVENDER yet he asked if we could still be together!" Ginny started out very calm, but by the end of her story she was waving her hands all over the place and nearly screaming.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gin," Hermione said as she rushed over to give her friend a hug.

"It's ok, we'd only been together for a few weeks, and I really only went out with him to get over Michael," Ginny said in a rather upbeat voice.

"Humph," Ron grunted at the sound of Michael's name.

"Dean's just... so stupid sometimes I just want to kill him with my own bare hands," Ginny said.

"Oh Harry! That's how you could kill Vol.." Hermione exclaimed before realizing that Ginny was in the room.

"Ginny, out!" Ron exclaimed, eager to hear Hermione's idea.

"What! That's so unfair. It's not like I didn't hear you guys talking about the prophecy. Oops." Ginny said as she clapped a hand over her mouth and started walking to the door.

"You did WHAT?!" Harry yelled, speaking up for the first time in the conversation.

"I... oh, Harry I'm so sorry! I was walking to the room, about to knock so I could come in when I heard you guys, and I was just worried about you Harry!" Ginny was almost pleading with Harry, it was evident she knew she had done something bad; tears were forming in her eyes. She didn't want to loose her closest friends because she had eavesdropped, she thought Harry was going to tell who his crush was, when he said 'there's something I need to tell you'. But now that she knew, she thought she had the right to know anyway, she _was_ at the ministry fighting alongside him. "But you know, it's not something you couldn't have told me anyway. Actually I sort of hope that you three would share this kind of information with me. I'm just as responsible as you guys, I'm only a year younger, and I was fighting right with you at the ministry of magic," Ginny ended with a huff, all out of breath and her face a fair shade of Weasley red.

"Ginny has a point, Harry. I mean, I know it's your decision, but Ginny has always been there for us. And well, it couldn't hurt to have another trustworthy person to help us," Hermione said unconfidently, a bit scared that Harry would have one of his classic temper-tantrums.

After a few minutes of silence as Harry considered what Hermione said he finally spoke up, "You make a good point, but I just don't want to put any more people in danger than I have to..." Harry started drifting off, unsure of how to put what he was thinking into words.

"Mate, I think you need to remember that despite what you might be thinking, you do need help. It's not fair for us to just leave the burden completely on your shoulders. If we each help out, your life will be easier. 4 people are a lot harder to break than just 1," Ron said, astounding the others for the second time in just one day.

"I know, I guess you are right. I guess all I have to say is thanks, for your loyalty I guess, brings out the real Gryffindor in you," at Harry's words everyone smiled, "Ginny I'm sorry I got so mad at you for a second, I guess I ought to be thanking you for standing by me at the ministry, not yelling at you. I just... don't listen in our conversations again!" Harry said trying to sound mean, which he just couldn't pull off.

"Oh thanks so much for not being mad!" Ginny squealed as she ran over to Harry and put her arms around his neck in a big hug.

"Um... Sure Ginny," Harry said, almost speechless. His face was blushing and his arms suddenly felt like the longest most awkward things in the world. He had no idea what to do with them. Sure he'd hugged Hermione and Mrs. Weasley before, but for some reason this felt different. He finally settled his arms around her waist just before she let go.

"I won't let you down, Harry, all your secrets are safe with me, and if you ever need any help just ask," Ginny said with a smile, proud that she could finally be of use to the trio.

* * *

What will Happen Next? I do not know, or do I? Will things continue to be so happy for Harry? Is the confusion over? Will we ever hear from Voldemort? How'd they do on the OWLs? Will more secrets be revealed? Find out next time on.... CHAPTER 4, coming soon, but only if you review and tell me it's wanted.


	4. Surprise, Surprise

"Well, now that all of the mushy stuff is over with, I wonder when we're going to eat dinner," Ron said as he put his hand over his stomach.

"Oh yeah! I forgot all about that," Hermione said with a glance at Ron and Ginny, "Let me go see if the meeting is over yet, it should be by now."

As Hermione left the room, he wondered when she suddenly was so eager for dinner. It was very usual for Ron to be hungry, but Hermione never usually cares when meals are.

"So, um, Ginny, Dean didn't do anything mean to you, did he? He never actually cheated on you, right?" Ron asked, as his face formed a bit of a scowl.

"No Ron, and it's none of your concern really, I can handle boyfriends quite fine without any brotherly protection," Ginny snapped back.

"Fine, but he wasn't right for you anyway," Ron said.

"Oh yeah... well then Mr. Know-it-all who IS right for me?" Ginny asked.

"Well, um," Ron looked down as he began to blush, "Well's he's here, I mean over there, I mean, out there... I mean, you'll find him," Ron finished, hoping no one realized who he truly wanted Ginny to date. Meanwhile, Harry couldn't help noticed that Ginny had called RON a know-it-all, taking Hermione's title.

The three of them talked casually for a few minutes before Hermione finally came back into the room. She poked her head in the door and with a grin from ear to ear said, "Ok, dinner's ready!" and then left.

Ron and Ginny both seemed to leap off their seats and at the door, Harry had barely even stood up before he heard their footsteps thumping all the way down the stairs.

_Geez,_ Harry thought,_ I'm definitely going to need to question those three on why they're acting so strangely. Have they been starved all summer?_ Right as he was thinking of possibilities for why they're so hungry, Harry heard a loud crash from the kitchen. He pushed open the door to the kitchen quickly, thinking of the worst, of Voldemort, even though it would be very unlikely for Harry to find Voldemort in the kitchen.

As the door was opening, all he could notice was the silence, which was extremely unusual for a household filled with Weasleys.

There were no lights on in the kitchen; there wasn't even a single speck of light coming in through the window.

"Lumos," Harry muttered as he simultaneously whipped out his wand.

Harry found himself face to face with a floating cake, as he was trying to decipher the writing on it all of the lights came on in the room.

"SURPRISE!"

About 25 people were scattered around the kitchen and dining room all staring at Harry looking extremely pleased. Harry didn't even know what to do. _Why were all these people here? What is this surprise about?_

"W...w... Why's everyone here?" Harry finally stuttered out.

"Harry, don't tell me you forgot about your birthday!" Hermione hollered from his left.

"My birthday?" Harry asked himself quietly, "I can't believe I didn't remember!" Harry said as he hit himself on the forehead.

"Oh, then Happy Birthday, Mate!" Ron said, emitting a chuckle from everyone in the crowd.

"Er... thanks," Harry replied, finally smiling. He couldn't believe he was thrown a birthday party, and a surprise one at that. He looked around the room to find just about everyone he was friends with. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Fred, George, Lee Jordan, Angela Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Lupin, Tonks, Dumbledore, and many members from the Order.

"Come on, Harry! Stop staring," George yelled stepping forward

"Yeah, I don't know about you, but _I _want to eat some cake," Fred said as he reached for the cake floating in the air.

"Let's go everyone, to the living room so we can cut this cake and get the party going!" George exclaimed following his twin.

"But what was that crash I heard? We're not under attack, are we?" Harry asked, still not believing that this was all happening.

"Oh...no, that was just me," Tonks said sheepishly, "I knocked over a couple plates getting into my hiding place."

As the wave of people moved in the considerably larger living room, Harry noticed the changes Sirius had apparently made there too. It had been re-floored, with new furniture, new curtains, and new paint. It seemed like someone had enchanted the room to accommodate more people, and there was a dance floor in the center of the room, along with a long table of food along one of the walls. There were a few tables with chairs around them so people could sit and eat. Banners were hanging along all walls saying 'Happy 16th Birthday Harry'

"I think music would be appropriate," Dumbledore said and with a flick of his wand music was playing throughout the room that Harry vaguely recognized as the popular band The Weird Sisters.

"So, Harry, what do you think?" Hermione asked as she approached him with Ron.

"Well I can't believe someone organized this. By the way, who thought of this?" Harry asked.

"It was Ginny's idea really, she told me and Ron about it at the very end of last year, and the three of us and Mrs. Weasley have helped put it together." Hermione replied. Harry around and spotted Ginny standing next to Neville 10 feet away pretending to listen to him. He gave her a genuine smile and mouthed the word 'thanks', she knew why he was smiling and give him back a slight grin with a shrug as she blushed a little.

"So you wanna get some cake?" Ron asked Harry, breaking his train of thought.

"Oh that's so like you Ron Weasley, always wanting to eat," Hermione said with a look of disgust.

"Hey, a man's gotta eat," Ron said with a grin. And he rushed over to the food table, followed by Hermione.

On the way to the table of food Harry was approached by many of the guests to wish him a happy birthday.

The first person to approach him was Lupin, who Harry immediately noticed was dressed a lot nicer than usual. It was an informal occasion, but he had on a nice, new looking pair of khaki pants and a collared shirt. Harry wondered if Lupin had gotten a job, despite his condition.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Lupin said as he extended a hand to give Harry a firm handshake. He seemed very happy, and his eyes were seemed to be glossy with excitement. He was grinning genuinely, Harry had no idea his birthday made Lupin so excited.

"Thanks Professor Lupin," Harry said in response.

"Remus, Harry, Remus. I think 16 is old enough to stop with all the formalities, don't you?" Lupin asked, still smiling.

"Sure, I guess so," Harry said smiling, trying to match Lupin's mood, it was his birthday after all.

"Good, great," Lupin said, right before someone yelled "Hey Remus over here!" Harry looked over his shoulder to find Tonks on the dance floor waving Lupin over. "Well, Harry, I think we need some hazard control over on the dance floor, so I'd best be going, but if you're not busy tomorrow, I thought maybe we could hang out?"

"Yeah, of course," Harry said, starting to get a bit curious. Harry had started to notice that the Marauders always seemed to have ulterior motives up their sleeves.

"Have fun!" Lupin called as he was already walking towards Tonks. When Harry saw him start dancing, he wondered if Fred and George had slipped some Firewhiskey into the punch, he'd never seen Lupin so energetic, especially recently.

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan approached Harry next, surrounding him a bit on all sides.

"Harry, mate!" George said merrily.

"How are you doing?" Lee asked.

"Happy big 16," Fred continued.

"Hey Fred, George, Lee," Harry said, nodding to each of them.

"We know your lives been a little, well how do I say this..." Fred said.

"Dreadful," George said flatly

"So we decided to offer you a little spice, if you want it."

"So go drink some of the punch that's on the far left corner of the table."

"You'll notice it's got a bit of a kick to it."

"Its was expensive, and hard to pull off with mum always nosing around."

"But, you are worth it, you little business sponsor you..." Fred said, as he ruffled up Harry's hair, not that anyone would be able to notice anyway.

"Er..." Harry said, not sure what to say or even sure of exactly what they put in the punch.

"Boys, he's speechless, we better leave before he tears up," George said. And with that, the three trouble makers were gone.

Before he'd even taken one step, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet were upon him, almost literally. Each of the girls ran up to him giggling and gave him big hugs.

"Oh Harry, Happy Birthday," Katie Bell said during her hug.

"We're gonna miss you so much, not playing quidditch any more with you," Angelina said as she hugged Harry after Katie did.

"I can't believe our youngest quidditch player in a century is already 16," Alicia said during her hug, and everyone, including Harry laughed.

"Me neither, really, but then again I'm the one who forgot my birthday all together," Harry said.

"Oh girls, we're getting lonely over here!" Harry heard Fred yell from the dance floor as a slow song came on.

"Oh well, Harry, I suppose we have to go, but we'll need to talk again later tonight to plan another get together since we wont see you during the year," Katie said sadly.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Harry said.

Once the girls had found their respective guys to dance with, Harry was off, once again just trying to reach the food table.

"Pst, Harry, Pst, over here" Harry heard someone hiss at him.

He looked around a little and finally spotted Dean and Seamus calling him from over by the bunch bowl, _the_ punch bowl. Harry walked over to the two; Dean had one arm on the table propping up his entire body, and Seamus had his elbow Dean's shoulder, trying to steady himself which was entirely unproductive because it was just making Dean more wobbly.

"Harry, we heard _:hiccup:_ that the punch _:hiccup:_ was spiked _:hiccup:_," Dean finally managed to get out.

"So we tried it, and look," the Irish boy, Seamus, said with a huge grin, "it is!"

"I know, it was Fred and George as their present for me," Harry told them.

"Oh yeah! Happy birthday! Happy Birthday to Harry! _:hiccup:_" Dean said in a singsong voice.

"Well then birthday boy, maybe you should have a cup, I mean, it is good, and, you could use to loosen up a bit," and in one surprisingly swift motion from Seamus, Harry had a full cup of red punch in his hand that he could smell from a foot away.

"Should I?" Harry asked more to himself than to the intoxicated boys.

"Why not!" Dean said with a large arm gesture that caused him to loose his balance and stumble forward a step, making Seamus stumble a bit with him.

"I guess you're right," Harry said, taking a gulp of the beverage. _Tastes more like poison than punch_ Harry thought. He figured that was enough, he didn't want to end up like Dean, hiccupping all night. He just wanted to loosen up, lift the burden for a few minutes.

Harry walked over to get some cake; it had his name on it after all. He took one of the largest pieces and walked over to sit at a table that Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville were at.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Neville said.

"Yes, Harry, Happy 16th," Ginny said.

"Thanks,"

"Yah Happy big 16! Now you can go get your drivers license!" Hermione said, but only her and Harry laughed.

"What?" Ron asked, looking at the two of them as they laughed as if they had really gone insane.

"Don't worry about it, Ron, muggle talk," Harry said, still breathing irregularly from all his laughing.

"Well, you guys are boring me, anyone up for some dancing," Ginny said as she pushed away her plate with cake. Ron quickly picked it up and put it next to his and began eating the cake from it.

"Well I'm rubbish at dancing," Neville said looking regretful.

"I will," Harry said standing up, feeling more adventurous than usual, or more like feeling the boost from his 'punch'.

"Great!" Ginny said, taking Harry's hand and pulling him to the dance floor.

The dance floor was scattered with people, Harry noted the twins and Lee, with the quidditch girls, Lupin, Tonks, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and a few other members of the Order.

When Harry finally got out onto the floor, he realized what he'd gotten himself into. He didn't know how to dance! He'd slow danced, but that was pushing it for him. As he discovered with Cho last year, he wasn't the most... experienced with girls. And he wasn't too smooth either.

Ginny didn't seem to notice though; she was already moving all around dancing to the upbeat song that Harry didn't recognize. He suddenly felt so incredibly awkward standing there watching her dance, so he decided to at least sway to the beat a little. His movement must have gotten Ginny's attention, however, and she realized he wasn't really dancing.

"Oh come on, Harry. You have to dance, it's your party!" She said reaching for his hands, "Just move your arms like this and move your feet a little."

Harry was starting to get the hang of it, and he was actually enjoying himself. He liked that he could just relax. No one was trying to have serious discussions with him, there was no one he had to think about saving, and he was starting to feel more and more confident with his dance moves. He was watching Lupin out of the corner of his eyes, trying to copy Lupin's moves.

"Wow, Harry, you're really getting good!" Ginny said, amazed that he was already doing a different dance move.

"Thanks, you were a great teacher," Harry said instinctively.

Before Ginny could even say thanks, the song changed to the second slow song of the evening. It seemed to bring more people out on the dance floor, and Harry noticed Hermione and Ron start dancing together. Luna and Neville then got up and followed them out. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were also getting up to dance together.

"Harry? HARRY. HARRY!!" Ginny was saying to Harry who was in a zone, busy watching people around the room.

When she finally shook his shoulders he snapped out, "Huh? What, were you saying something?" Harry said.

"Yeah, I wanted to know if you wanted to dance." Ginny asked unusually shyly, looking down at the ground and moving her left foot in small circles.

"Oh, sure," Harry replied, a bit surprised.

Ginny moved closer to Harry and put her hands on his shoulders. Harry followed her lead and put his hands on her waist. They swayed easily back and forth to the beat, each glancing over each others shoulders, watching everyone else but rarely looking directly at each other. They fit together nicely; Ginny came up to about Harry's eyes and her arms were not reaching to meet his shoulders.

A very observant onlooker might have noticed them getting slowly closer, centimeter by centimeter. Luckily for Harry, who wanted anything but attention, there were no observant onlookers, except for a wise old Dumbledore, looking over the shoulder of Minerva McGonagall at the young pair.

By the end of the song, they were about an inch apart. Harry could feel Ginny's breathing on his neck; it was in perfect time with his.

Another fast song came on, and Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville, Seamus and Dean all came over to dance. They were all dancing in a big circle, and everyone was having a great time. Seamus and Dean (a little recovered from before, but still on the tipsy side) would occasionally go in the center and do one of their crazy drunken dance moves. When ever Fred or George spotted Seamus or Dean in the center, they would quickly take out their wands and turn their hair blue, or make them sprout wings. It was the best time Harry could remember having in months.

Eventually people tired, and one by one everyone sat down at the tables again, unable to stand up from all their dancing. Hermione and Harry sat down together, the others of their group still finding the stamina to continue their boogying.

"So, Harry, have you had a good time?" Hermione asked as she crossed one leg over the other and rubbed her sore foot.

"Yeah, it was really great, I can't thank you guys enough," Harry said honestly.

"You deserved it, really," Hermione said back, "So it looked like you were having a good time with Ginny?" Hermione tried to say casually.

"Yeah, I didn't know I danced," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Neither did Ron and I... I have question, you don't still like Cho do you?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"Oh, no, definitely not, why?" Harry asked, starting to get curious.

"Well I really think you should consider dating..." Hermione said, but mid-sentence was cut off by Dumbledore, who was suddenly sitting in a chair he pulled up right next to the two of them.

"Pardon me, Ms. Granger, I do hope I wasn't interrupting anything important," He said with a twinkle in his brilliantly blue eyes.

"Oh, it can wait, Professor," Hermione replied.

"Have the two of you tried the lemon tart? Molly has simply outdone herself this time," Dumbledore asked in an airy voice.

"Yes, all of Mrs. Weasley's dishes are wonderful this evening," Hermione said happily.

"Yes, that they were," and at this Dumbledore paused for a moment, seeming to be thinking about the food. "Well, down to business," Dumbledore said with a cheerful clap of his hands, "Harry, I was just wondering if you would be able to meet with me the day after tomorrow, here at headquarters at around noon. There are just a few things I need to discuss with you, nothing to be concerned about however," Dumbledore asked.

"Sure, professor, I don't really have anything else to be doing," Harry replied meekly.

"Ah, well we can fix that," and with a twinkle and a touch to his pointy velvet purple hat, the old man was gone.

"Wonder what that last part was about," Hermione asked Harry.

"Dumbledore's up to something," Harry said suspiciously, knowing too well how his Headmaster works.

As Harry was finishing his comment, Ron, Ginny and the rest of their friends came over to sit with Harry and Hermione. No one was left on the dance floor, and in the corner of the room Mad-Eye Moody was sitting at a table asleep. Harry watched Kingsley Shacklebolt walk over to Moody and shake him awake, and then watched as the two of them approached Harry's table slowly; Shacklebolt walking along with Moody who hobbled over as his mad eye was spinning out of control.

"Alright there, Potter? Looking a little bit tired," Moody said giving him a little nudge.

"Yes, I'm fine," Harry replied with a little smile.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Kingsley said, joining the conversation.

"Thanks, Kingsley," Harry said.

"A group of us got you a little something, but we can't give it to you quite yet," Kingsley said with a smirk.

"Ok, well then, thanks in advance. When do I get it?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh you'll see soon enough," Kingsley replied with a glance at Moody.

"Come on, Shacklebolt, I think it's time we take all these kids home," Moody said to Kingsley, gesturing to Harry's friends.

"Right then. Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, you guys are coming with us so we can take you home," Kingsley said. The 4 friends said their goodbyes to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, wishing Harry one last happy birthday, and they exited the room.

"Oh yeah, how did you get them all here? That's a lot of people to know about Grimmauld Place, we probably shouldn't have given away the location of Head..." But Harry didn't even get in the last word before Hermione spoke up.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. They all agreed to get their memory fixed after they leave, they'll remember the night, just not the location," Hermione replied in the know-it-all voice.

"Oh, smart," Harry replied, seeming at ease again.

"Yes," Ron added, looking at Hermione.

When Harry looked around, he was surprised to see that many of the guests had left. He was shocked how many people had come, even people he had only met a few times. He supposed everyone just needed an excuse to have some fun, and he didn't mind that his birthday was the excuse. _We _are_ amidst very dark times, everyone needs some fun_, Harry reminded himself.

Fred, George, Lee, Angela, Katie, and Alicia came up to Harry one last time, and with a flurry of hugs, pats, and birthday wishes, the group of recent graduates were gone.

The only people left in the large room were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

"Well," Mr. Weasley began, standing up, "I think we can declare it a night."

"Yes, I think its time you dears when up to bed," Mrs. Weasley told them.

"Mrs. Weasley, would you like some help cleaning up?" Hermione said as she motioned towards all of the left over food and dirty dishes.

"It's been a tiring night, why don't we just leave it for the morning?" Mrs. Weasley said sounding exhausted herself.

"Yep, well, I should be off then, it's getting pretty late, got work tomorrow," Tonks said as she stood up and stretched her arms with a big yawn.

"I'll walk you to the door, goodnight guys, Happy Birthday again Harry,"

"Thanks, Remus," Harry said, still getting used to the name.

The friends watched Remus and Tonks exit, until a tired Mrs. Weasley ushered them out of the room and up the stairs.

"Well, happy birthday again, Harry," Hermione said before walking into her room.

"'Night Harry, hope you had a good birthday!" Ginny said and followed Hermione into their room.

Harry and Ron went next door into their room, so tired they were almost sleepwalking. With only a "G'night" to each other, they changed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep, Harry being more content than he could remember himself being for months.


	5. Willing it to Happen

A/N: I just wanted to thank the whopping 6 people who have reviewed, especially Hillary (of Hillary and Jess). I don't know why people aren't reviewing either? I don't even know if any one has read this besides the mere 6 reviewers, but... I enjoy writing this, its helping to relieve all the stress in my life, and therefore, I will forge on. However, if you review, it makes me happier, and I write better. So without further ado, chapter 5:

* * *

Harry awoke early in the morning, wide awake. Before he even looked across the room he knew Ron was still asleep (it was obvious with the loud snorts coming from him every few seconds). He walked over to the window in the room and looked out, the sun was just rising. He knew wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep so he decided to shower now before there was competition for the bathroom.

Harry grabbed some of his new clothes for the day, and tip-toed down the creaky hallway, making sure he didn't wake anyone. He took a nice long shower and got dressed. He proceeded down the stairs, again very cautiously. The house was dead silent, and he assumed it was because everyone was asleep. He, however, was starving and felt it wouldn't be disruptive to make himself some breakfast.

Upon entering the kitchen, he was surprised to see Hermione in a pink fuzzy bathrobe reading a book and drinking tea.

"Oh," Hermione gasped, "Harry you startled me, I didn't even hear you coming."

"I was trying not to wake anyone up. Speaking of which, what are you doing up so early?" Harry asked his friend.

"I'm always up this early; I've always been an early riser. What about you? You didn't have any bad dreams, did you?" Hermione asked with concern in her voice.

"No, no reason, I just happened to get up very early this morning, and now I'm starving so I was coming down to make breakfast." Harry told her.

"I see, well, now that you mention it, I'm getting quite hungry myself. Care to make some breakfast together?" Hermione asked, putting her book mark on the page she was reading.

"Sure, I'm not that bad of a cook, I used to have to make food for the Dursleys sometimes." Harry told her.

"Great, I'm not too bad either; I used to help my mum all the time when I was little." Hermione said, looking down at the floor sadly as she remembered where her parents were now.

"Ok then, pancakes, bacon, and sausage?" Harry asked as he raised one eyebrow at Hermione.

"Pancakes, bacon, sausage, and toast, we'll make it for everyone," Hermione suggested.

"Sounds good, but we better go fast, my appetite just reached Ron level," Harry said making Hermione laugh.

The two friends took out the frying pans and food and began their cooking. Harry was frying the bacon and sausage, Hermione was making the toast, and they took turns flipping the pancakes (everyone's favorite part).

When they were almost through cooking, Hermione finally got the courage to continue the conversation she had started last night, "So Harry, are there any girls that you are interested in right now?" Hermione asked trying to sound casual.

"No, well, I hadn't really thought of it, you know, lot on my mind," Harry said, sounding a lot more offensive than he meant to.

"Oh, because, well, there's some one out there who likes you, but I don't want to say who, and well, you should consider liking them," Hermione said, clearly struggling with her words.

"It's not, you don't..." Harry stuttered, disbelieving that Hermione would ever like him.

"No! It's not me, it's honestly some one I know," Hermione said quickly.

"Oh, few, no offense, but I think you are just too much of a sister," Harry said.

"Well don't worry, I'd say you're too much of a brother."

"Well now that that's settled, who is this admirer I have?" Harry said with a mischievous glint in his green eyes.

"I'm not telling you, Harry. But if you think, you will get it, and maybe you'll like them back." Hermione said.

"Hermione, I don't like puzzles," but right before Harry was about to plead for her to tell him, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The rest of the household had woken up and was coming down the stairs.

"..Overslept, should have had breakfast ready by now, so sorry," Harry and Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley's voice coming down the stairs.

When Mrs. Weasley saw them putting food on the table she was shocked, "You two didn't have to make breakfast! You should be sleeping."

"Oh, well we were up early anyway so we thought it would be fun," Hermione told her.

"Who cares who made the food, let's just eat it," Ron said, still sounding quite tired. He sat down at the table and served himself a large stack of pancakes, plenty of bacon and sausage, and a few pieces of toast. He already had his face stuffed before the rest sat down.

"Oys dish weery ood!" Ron exclaimed with his mouth full of food.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking at him with disgust.

Before Ron got the chance to swallow Hermione said, "He said 'Guys this is really good'".

"You can understand Ron-With-Food language?" Remus asked.

Hermione started to blush, "Well, yes, I mean he talks with food in his mouth all the time, so I've gotten used to it."

Ron smiled at Hermione; it said a lot that she knew him so well that she could understand what he was saying with a mouth full of food.

"Where's Fred and George?" Harry asked Ron.

"Oh they rarely come to breakfast, always out around the clubs at night or working at the store so they come home late and sleep in," Ginny told Harry.

"My compliments to you, Hermione and Harry. I had no idea you two were such excellent chefs. My kids would be lost if they ever found their way to the cooking part of a kitchen." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Thanks, got a lot of practice with the Dursleys," Harry said, serving himself some food.

"How'd you learn Hermione," Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Well, when I was little, I used to always try and help my mom in the kitchen. And then on big holidays like Christmas I would help her prepare everything and she'd teach me how to make certain dishes, it was really great."

It was evident from Mrs. Weasley's expression that she felt bad for asking, Hermione looked immediately grief stricken. "I have an idea! How about this Christmas you and Ginny help me prepare everything?"

"Really? You'd want that?" Hermione asked, eyes looking brighter.

"Oh course, dear," Mrs. Weasley said warmly as she reached over to Hermione and held her hand, "You know that you're practically a daughter to me."

Hermione, speechless, just smiled back at her. The rest of the table just watched the two like it was a TV show.

"Whoo," Lupin said, putting his fork and knife down on his plate with a clatter, "I am stuffed, good meal Hermione and Harry."

"Thanks," Harry said.

"I wonder if OWL's will come today," Hermione said.

"Ugh, I hope not," Ron said, fearing the bad grades he could have gotten.

"Oh come on Ron, even you studied, I'm sure you'll do fine," Hermione said, as she started cleaning up.

"Oh no, Hermione, let me clean up, you cooked," Mrs. Weasley said, beginning to bustle about the kitchen.

"Oh, thanks Mrs. Weasley. Well I have a book I'd like to finish, so I'm going to just go up to my room and read," Hermione said as she exited the room.

"Anyone up for some chess? Harry?" Ron said, turning to Harry with a grin.

"Er, Ron, you beat me 3 times yesterday, I'm not sure how much it does for my self esteem," Harry told his friend.

"I'll play you," Ginny said, "You're not _that_ great."

"Oh, we'll see what you say after this game," Ron said, challenging his sister.

The brother and sister left and headed to Ron's room for an intense round of chess.

"Well I have to go get ready, I need to stop by the office," Mr. Weasley said as he pushed back his chair and stood up.

"But Arthur it's Sunday!"

"I know, but we're having a crisis with a man who is selling enchanted vacuum cleaners."

"Enchanted what?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking very confused.

"I'll tell you later, I'm late!" Mr. Weasley said as he rushed out the door.

"So Harry," Remus said finally speaking up, "you up for some quality time now?"

"Sure,"

"Ok, first I have something I need to give you, it was your birthday yesterday after all, and your 16th no less," Remus said, motioning for Harry to follow him out of the room.

They left the kitchen and trudged up the stairs to Remus's room. Harry had yet to see his room and noticed it was the same as his since Sirius's makeovers. It had a deep red paint and a border of gold across the top of the walls. He had a queen sized bed with a rich gold comforter, and there was a huge bookcase which probably held more books than Hermione had ever owned, which really says a lot.

"As you might know, not many items of your parents survived that night..." Lupin said, drifting off a little, "But Sirius on the other hand, got his own flat before even your parents did. So, when Sirius got sent to Azkaban, being his only living best friend, I got most of his stuff. And so, for your birthday, I give you this," Remus went to his closet, took out a small trunk and placed it in front of Harry.

"What's in it?" Harry asked, never taking his eyes off of it.

"A bunch of Sirius's stuff from school, he sort of threw it in his closet and forgot about it," Remus stopped talking to look at Harry who was looking mesmorized by the box. The anticipation was evident in his rich green eyes and he hadn't blinked in at least a minute. "Well, go ahead, open it up," Remus said to Harry, eager to see Harry's reaction.

Still not removing his eyes from the dark red trunk, Harry walked over to it and kneeled beside it. He slowly moved his finger across the gold plate which was engraved with "SPB".

"What was Sirius's middle name," Harry asked, finally looking up at Remus.

"Polaris, it was his great uncle's name I believe," Remus replied with reminiscent look on his face

Harry continued to move his hand across the trunk; he moved it down to three gold clasps. He undid them each slowly, and continued to lift the top of the trunk off. The trunk was rather cluttered, but still held a lot. One by one, Harry took things out and arranged them on the floor around him.

He first removed a navy blue bound book. Remus immediately started laughing, "Oh boy! I forgot all about that! Well, you actually may want that book, I believe it came in very handy for Sirius, it was practically his bible our first few years at school."

"A Man's Guide to Women?" Harry asked as he read the title.

"Yes, you see, out of our group, Sirius was, well how do I say this, the ladies' man. While your father always had his eyes set on Lily Evans, Sirius dated quite a few girls, probably every one in our year and more. So this book is where he learned his 'moves' I guess you could say."

"What's this?" Harry said, pulling out a large book, he guessed it was a photo album.

"That's a photo album, Sirius thought the muggle camera was the greatest invention in the world for bugging people. He would go around flashing it in everyone's faces right when they weren't expecting it," Remus was smiling and looking off into space as the memories rushed back to him.

Harry opened up the photo album to a random page and saw an upside down picture of the tops of Remus and his father's heads. Eager to see what else was in the box, he put the photo album down next to the book and looked in the trunk. There was a stack of loose pieces of parchment, so Harry decided to take them out.

"Sirius's old quidditch plays, you see, James was captain, but Sirius was an awful good chaser, and James felt bad that he was captain and Sirius wasn't, so he would have Sirius help him write plays for the team. Maybe those will come in handy for you this year?" Remus said.

"Huh?" Harry asked, unsure of what Remus was talking about

"You know, if your captain, Angelina is gone after all."

"Oh, I hadn't even thought about it." Harry said, now starting to wonder if he would get quidditch captain this year. Fred, George, Angelina, Katie AND Alicia were gone. He was the only returning person who was actually good. He'd think on it later.

He reached into the trunk and pulled out a small black book. Remus chuckled loudly, "Sirius wanted to make sure he always had an array of date possibilities, so every time he met a girl he'd write her name down in what he referred to as "the book" along with her address so he could find her after school ended."

Harry flipped through the pages and was surprised to see so many names. _Well there's ONE difference between me and my godfather, he got girls, and I got manic depression, _Harry thought.

Harry reached back inside and pulled out another book.

"The History of Goblin Rebellions?" Harry asked, looking at it with disgust.

"Oh, no, no. Take out your wand, tap the book once and say Monthly Mayhem." Remus told Harry in his deep Professor voice.

Harry did as he was told, and the ugly brown book turned into a brightly colored red book labeled, "A Beginners Guide to Becoming an Animagi". There were random bits of parchment sticking out from the book in different places.

"Well, as you know, it took the three of them quite a few years to learn to be animagis, and this is the book that taught them. Those bits of parchment sticking out are probably their notes on the progress they made," Remus said as he sat down beside Harry by the trunk.

Harry flipped open to a random page with a piece of parchment in it. There were diagrams on the page of a wizard putting a charm on himself. Harry read the caption below the charm, "Next put on the _Commoror Vestis_ spell, follow the hand motion in the diagram above. This spell will allow the transformation from animal back to Human to restore the clothes that were present before the original transformation occurred," the text continued, but Harry stopped reading because he was laughing.

"What's so funny," Remus asked.

"On the piece of parchment that has their notes it says "4/12/74, Sirius has successfully placed the charm. After 5 tries, Peter has successfully placed the charm. James has also successfully placed the charm in his first try, he does however regret that he cannot transform from his stag into a naked James in front of Lily Evans."

Remus laughed at that too as he happily recalled his old friends, "Oh yes, Sirius was always making fun of your dad for liking your mom. Because, as you can tell now, Sirius never really settled down liking one girl for a long period of time. I guess you could say it wasn't his style," Remus finished with another laugh.

Harry stared at Sirius's writing a little longer, and suddenly, instead of feeling sad at how he would never receive a letter with the scrawled handwriting anymore, he was happy that he had seen it at all. He was happy he got to know this man who was such a huge part of his father's life. It made him smile to remember Sirius's antics, to hear stories about him, to remember how good his godfather was to him. He placed the book back in the trunk and turned towards Remus.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked, before he even had time to think about what he was saying.

"Does what hurt?" Remus asked back, still smiling from remembering his best friends.

"Having both your best friends dead, and the other a traitor, how do you bear to think about them," Harry asked.

"I... well... Harry it's hard," Remus said, looking from the floor into Harry's eyes, "There isn't a day when I don't think about them, and how my life has been sad with out them. When your parents died, I thought it was the end of the world. James was one of my brothers, and Lily... well she always understood. She helped me through many rough times. Loosing the two of them was like getting two slaps in the face. Then Sirius, when I heard, it was ten times worse. I thought he betrayed our best friend, and then I thought he killed Peter two. It was devastating; I almost didn't make it through those first few weeks.

"But, eventually, you realize there's nothing you can do about it. They're no longer on earth, but they never really leave you. I'll always be able to remember them. Sometimes I even feel their presence, see your mom smile at me or hear your dad laughing at something crazy I've done. When I realized back in your third year that Sirius was innocent, that he was alive, and we could be friends again I think it was the happiest moment since your parents' death. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but just knowing he was innocent and seeing him again that one time in the shrieking shack just improved my life so much."

At Remus's words he remembered the time in the shrieking shack when Sirius and Lupin embraced like brothers separated for eternity. He wondered what he would do if he lost Ron or Hermione, if he would be as brave as Lupin, or if he would just give it all up.

"I guess your right, I don't know how I'd feel if I'd never met Sirius," Harry said contemplatively.

"You know Harry, Sirius really looked at you as his son, he was very proud of you. And I just know that your parents would be too."

"I know," Harry said, his eyes seeming to glisten with unshed tears.

"I have something else we need to talk about," Remus said as he went over to his desk on the other side of the room. He opened up a drawer and took out a letter and handed it to Harry.

"What's this?" Harry asked looking from the envelope to Remus.

"It's Sirius's will, all Order members are asked to make one since by just being in the Order they are putting themselves at risk.

Harry opened up the envelope and pulled out 3 pieces of parchment.

"The one on top is for you," Remus told him pointing to the one that said "Harry" on the top.

Harry read will,

_Harry:_

_I'm sorry to say that I have not fulfilled my duties as your godfather, I'm sorry I never succeeded in raising you and watching you grow up. I know this is difficult for you, Harry, but I'm still with you. I'll always be with you. I'm with your parents now, and though we can't physically be there for you, we're with you in your heart. _

_It's too bad I had to go and die before the war was over, we could have played some good quidditch together! But you must not think about what we could have done, you must think about what we were able to do. I'm so grateful still that you saved my life, Harry. I couldn't be prouder of what you've come to be like. And, no matter how many times people tell you, your parents would be so proud. I'll ask them now that I'm with them if they're proud, if they say they aren't proud I'll strike you with lightning or something, so you know._

_Since you are my one and only godson, I give you 1/4 my gold at Gringotts, spend it well (like on a nice new broom or a present for your girlfriend!). But don't spend it all, remember that the gold in the bank is all you have. I also ask that you try hard in school, and never give up on anything. You're a powerful wizard, Harry. I know you'll go far. _

_Also, I give you Grimmauld Place. Please let the Order continue to use it for as long as they need it. Let it be a home for anyone who needs a place to stay, as your grandfather did for me. I started finishing the house, but I didn't finish. There is a book in my room on how to do it magically, if you ever get bored like I did (but then again you're not trapped in this house like a prisoner). _

_Finally, I have asked Remus to adopt you. If I am gone, that means you no longer have a legal guardian. You never thought you had one the first 13 years of your life, but you did, even though I was in Azkaban. I have given Remus in his section of the will an adoption form, but in order for it to be complete you must sign it too. If you don't want to, I understand, you're getting older and independent. But remember, Moony is the last marauder. He was also your parents' best friend, and I consider him a brother like I did James. I know he considers you like a son and will do anything for you. _

_Well, I guess its time for me to be going, ha ha. Have a good time, Harry. Never forget to have fun, and always remember that I'm still in your heart. _

_Yours truly forever,_

_Sirius P. Black_

Harry finally looked up from the letter at Remus and saw Remus staring worriedly at him. Remus was squeezing his hands tightly and when Harry looked at him he looked away quickly.

"I... Here... this is..." Lupin reached into his pocket again and pulled out another piece of parchment. "Well, if you want it, this is the adoption paper. Before you say anything, just know, well Harry I consider you my son. I know I'm not much, and I'm not funny and wild like Sirius or anything, but I'm here, and I know what your dad would have wanted for you. And...

"Remus, stop!" Harry said, holding up his hands to indicate that Remus didn't have to go on.

"I understand Harry... wouldn't want dull old Moony..."

"No!" Harry said interrupting Remus again, "I mean I already decided the minute I read it, of course I want you as my guardian! I wouldn't want anything else."

"You mean you don't want the Weasleys or any one else?" Remus asked, as the color came back into his face slowly.

"Well I love Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but they're _Ron's_ parents. And they've already got a lot on their hands, and it just wouldn't be the same with out a Marauder always around!" Harry said smiling at Remus.

"Well then, I already signed it, so all you have to do is sign here," Remus said as he held out the parchment and a quill.

Harry signed with a big smile on his face and handed it back to Lupin.

Lupin to the paper, and put it on his desk. "Welcome to the family!" Remus said as he held out his hand to shake Harry's. Harry grasped Lupin's hand firmly and pulled him into hug and the two patted each other hard on the back.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was a little difficult to write, but I enjoyed it. Tell me if you think anyone's out of character, I'm trying, really hard. But I feel like no one really reads this story, so if you read it, please review, even if you say like, "it sucked" or "it was ok" at least I'll know some ones out there.

Please tell me if you have any suggestions/questions and I'll try and update again soon!

-Lauren (sportzgrl627)


	6. Eye Opening Fight

Disclaimer: Harry, Hermione, Ron and the gang are still not mine, neither is their universe.

A/N: Thank you so incredibly much to the reviewers; I honestly can't thank you enough. Every time I read one of your brilliant reviews it just makes me all bubbly inside! Please keep reading and if you're one of those people who read this story but have yet to review it, then please, just take 5 seconds and tell me if you like it, or if not, or why not or even what color pants you are wearing, just let me know that you are reading it!

Harry and Remus parted their hugging after a few moments and Harry sat down in the chair by Remus's desk.

Both heads quickly spun towards the door as they heard 3 large pounds on the door.

"Come in," Remus bellowed.

The door flung open with a bang and a red-faced Ron Weasley was standing with clenched fists in the doorway.

"I can't take _her_ anymore!" Ron stated slowly. Still without moving his legs, he unclenched and clenched his fists again. Harry was surprised smoke wasn't coming out of his ears.

"Take who? What happened?" Harry inquired quickly standing up.

"Hermione! She makes me so furious I don't even know what to do with myself."

"Oh, what happened?" Harry repeated.

"I finished playing chess with Ginny, and so I walked into Hermione's room to see if she was done with her book and wanted to play me or something. So I walk in, and you wanna know what she did, mate? She was sitting at her desk, writing something, and when she sees me enter she flips the paper over and pretends she wasn't writing! So obviously I was curious so I walk over to her desk and pick up the parchment. Do you know what it said?" Ron asked, fuming.

"No, Ron, what'd it say?" Harry asked in a tone as though he was already annoyed with this conversation.

"It said 'Dear Viktor, thank you for the lovely letter, I would like to see you again some time'! Can you believe that! Or at least that's all I read... but still! She's still all chummy with Viktor Krum! And now she's going to leave m- uh, US and go hang out with _him_ all the time! And she was hiding the letter so clearly she had said stuff that was even worse! Probably told him all about the Order and everything! Who knows what girls tell their boyfriends!" Ron exclaimed, nearly screaming now.

"Ron, Ron, calm down. What did Hermione say after she grabbed the letter from you?" Lupin asked, eyeing Ron with curiosity.

"Well first I told her off for lying to us that she wasn't seeing Krum anymore, and then I told her that she shouldn't trust him, since he was Kararoff's best little student and all. And then _she _said, 'Ronald Weasley'," Ron was now speaking extremely fast and mocking Hermione with a high pitching squeaky voice that the three of them knew sounded nothing like Hermione in reality, " 'I can't believe how utterly ignorant you are! You don't know anything about Viktor! And you clearly don't know anything about me if you think I'd tell him any of our secrets! Sod off and get out of my room!' " Ron finished crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ron, I'm sure she hasn't told Karkaroff anything, you know Hermione, she'd never do anything like that," Harry said taking a step towards Ron to put his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Harry! Are you joking! You remember Karakoff! He's a death eater! Remember how much he liked Krum?" Ron persisted, sounding almost desperate for Harry to agree with him.

"I don't know Ron... I mean there's always a possibility, but we have no other evidence," Harry reasoned.

"Harry she also lied to us! She told us she wasn't seeing Krum anymore, and in that letter I swear on my life that it said she'd like to see him again, she wants to go on another date with him!" ranted Ron. "She says I don't even know her! Of course I know her! I know her better than that Neanderthal! I've known her for 5 years!"

"Ron, you didn't read the rest of the letter, you never know what it might have said," Remus piped in with a grin.

"Yeah, and I don't think she wants to go on another date with him, she told me once she thought he was the ugliest bloke she's ever seen. And even so, she's allowed to talk to who she wants." Harry shrugged as he said his last sentence quickly, wanting to be over it.

"That's what she always says!" scoffed Ron.

"Well," Harry said with a pause, "she's right."

After a long moment of Ron thinking he replied, "I know."

"So then you should go apologize," Lupin offered.

"I... can't right now... Harry can you go see how mad she is at me?"

"Well, I hate getting in between these fights between you two, but since it'll be over soon, I'll go talk to her."

"Thanks, mate, you're a true friend," Ron said with a smile at Harry and a look of relief.

Harry opened the door and walked into the hallway, _Boy am I sick of hearing these two bicker, I'd thought they'd gotten better, can't they just tell each other they love each other and want to get married?!_ Harry had had a feeling since around 4th year that his two best friends liked each other as _more_ than best friends, but neither had told him yet. He wasn't sure if they'd ever admit it either. _The sooner the better, _Harry thought, _I want these fights to be put to an end._

As Harry was approaching Hermione's room, he saw Ginny exit the room.

"Hey Gin," Harry said.

"Oh hey, come to speak on behalf of my dim-witted brother?"

"Ah, so you've heard of the newest Weasley vs. Granger fight?"

"Heard? I could FEEL the ground shake as they were screaming at each other. When those two fight, everyone knows."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Harry agreed.

"I know how you feel, I'm sick of it too, and Hermione is too, she just told me how she just wished Ron could read the rest of the letter where she says that she didn't want to go out with Viktor _because_ she liked Ron. OOPS!" Ginny said clapping her hand over her mouth, "I've gone and said too much again!"

"She...she admitted to it? To Viktor?" Harry asked sounding amazed.

"So you've guessed she liked Ron?"

Harry nodded, "I've guessed since about 4th grade, both are to chicken to do anything though," Harry said sounding more condescending than he should have according to _his_ dating experience.

"Yes well, Hermione's been telling me about it since the Yule Ball, I think she sort of knows that Ron just can't handle his emotions and is waiting for him to confess his love."

"I think she might be waiting a long time at the rate he's going," Harry said. Ginny laughed and smiled at Harry. "Well I better go clean up Ron's mess," Harry said returning a smile to Ginny and pushing up the sleeves of his blue hooded sweatshirt.

"See you later, Harry" Ginny said placing a hand on his arm and walking away towards the stairs.

"Bye," Harry replied quietly. He watched her walk out of sight before opening the door to Hermione's room.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped, "Harry you really need to stop sneaking up on me like that!"

"Sorry," Harry mumbled with a shrug.

"So I guess you're here to talk about the fight? And I guess you're going to take Ron's side" Hermione asked accusingly.

"Er... no, actually, Ron admits he was wrong, and he wants to apologize as long as you are no longer fumingly mad."

Hermione, who was sitting cross legged on her bed hugging her pillow, looked up at Harry at his words. "He... he did what?" Hermione breathed, barely loud enough for Harry to hear from across the room.

"He wants to apologize," Harry repeated, picking up the chair by her desk and putting it in front of her by the bed.

"I never thought... maybe he really does... perhaps he'll actually admit..." Hermione mumbled to herself.

"Um... Hermione?" Harry spoke up, startling her as she realized he was in the room still. Harry continued now that he had her attention, "I, er, know that you like Ron."

"You do?" Hermione asked looking scared, "How?"

"Well, I've always sort of suspected, but then Ginny just let it slip by mistake, but I was pretty much completely sure of it anyway, so don't be mad at her." Harry told Hermione, emphasizing his last point.

"You're not... mad or anything are you?" Hermione inquired.

"No, at first I was slightly, I mean, it'd be awfully lonely if you guys started leaving me out, but then I realized you wouldn't, and no matter what we'll still always be the mischievous trio." Harry teased, he knew how much Hermione hated be known as mischievous.

"Well, that is if he and I ever even get together..." Hermione said quietly.

"I am pretty sure he likes you too, he just doesn't know how to handle it. I think you're the only girl he's ever liked."

"Well, I sure wish he'd handle it soon. I know there's some feelings there, I can tell from how he gets jealous of Viktor, it's really quite cute actually," Hermione said with a giggle, "But still, it's hard to like someone and not know if they like you back," Hermione sighed.

"I'd imagine..." Harry said dreamily, wishing he even had someone who he could like, even if unrequited.

"Maybe, you could... I don't know... try to get Ron a little closer to realizing and admitting his feelings?" Hermione asked, knowing that she was asking a lot of Harry. She wasn't sure how often the boys talked about the girls they liked, but even if they did and he hadn't admitted it to Harry yet, who knows when he would.

"I'll try," Harry said with a weak grin.

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione replied as her face brightened up, "and don't forget to open your eyes and find that girl who likes you, I know that you feel lonely, but there's someone out there."

"Ok, Hermione." Harry said, feeling overwhelmed with the mission he was about to take on. He got up and walked to the door, closing his eyes and putting his hand over his forehead. _Geez, setting these two up is tiring business, now I have to go find Ron and,_ As Harry opened the door his thoughts were interrupted as he hit a solid object. He opened his eyes and looked down to see Ginny Weasley on the ground rubbing her head.

"Oh brother, sorry Ginny! I should have been watching where I was going!" Harry said as he offered his hands out to help Ginny up.

Ginny took his hands in hers for Harry to pull her up. Harry, after his weight lifting at the Dursley's, pulled her up with more strength than he intended. The two were now standing so that the lengths of their bodies were practically touching and their faces were staring at each other, only an inch away.

"Your...your..." Ginny stammered, looking back and forth between Harry's dazzling green eyes, "chin is very hard." Ginny removed her right hand from Harry's hand, leaving the left one still with his, in order to rub her head.

"Oh, sorry, are you alright," Harry said as he absentmindedly placed his empty hand on her head to gently rub the place on her forehead where she hit his chin.

"Yes," Ginny whispered and then cleared her throat, "fine... now."

"I should... go, and talk to Ron, then, if you're ok," Harry said, not moving yet and looking into Ginny's eyes as if they were the most beautiful gems he'd ever seen.

"Right, and I should go talk to Hermione," Ginny said, stepping back and releasing Harry's hand slowly.

They both started walking away, taking one last glance at each other before they entered their separate rooms.

A/N: Ahhahaha! Fun chapter to write! Sorry to all those who don't like mushy gooky teenage stuff, it needs to be done, and there WILL be an action/adventure plot to this story, I'm just taking it very slowly. Did I overdue the harry/ginny stuff? Or the Hermione/Ron stuff? Did you catch the little foreshadowing that Hermione says – (hint, last thing she says, then Harry's actions....) If not, doesn't matter, just thought it'd be fun to try to write. Don't forget to review! Thanks in advance to all those who do!


	7. Lunchtime Chats

A/N: Hey sorry that took forever, I've been very busy. I'm american so i had a big Thanksgiving holiday which really consumed a lot of my time, and then work was a bit overwhelming at school, but I've been plugging along. Also I think this is a fairly long chapter - It may be boring, i dont know, but it was necessary. Hope you enjoy! Oh and thank you so much to all the reviewers, i dont think you understand how happy you make me.

------------------------------------

While Harry was in Hermione's room, Ron told Lupin he needed to go think and left Lupin's roomfor his own. Ron found he was sweating, he wasn't sure why, he wasn't usually the sweating type of guy. He concluded he was nervous about Hermione, _Why would I be nervous, so what if she's mad at me, it's not like I care about what she thinks or anything._

"But you do! All you care about is what she thinks of you!" Ron said to himself as he began pacing in front of his bed. "Too bad that she _does_ think of you as a stupid oaf, you've gone and got her angry at you again!"

Ron stopped pacing and looked out the window longingly, "I wish she just knew how I felt about her."

"Maybe she does," Ron shrieked and looked onto his bed to see Fred and George remove invisibility cloaks from over their heads.

"What?! How'd you…! You never…!" Ron cried, pointing from them to the door.

"Newest invention! Soundless smoothies! Drink one and everything you do will be silent, including apparition," George exclaimed.

"Not on the market yet, just testing them out, never thought we'd be so lucky as to find out Ronnie's biggest secret," Fred explained with a snicker.

"Oh my god," Ron said burying his head in his hands.

"Don't worry little brother. We won't say a word. But, maybe you should…" George said with a grin.

"What," Ron's head snapped up to stare at his brother, "what are you talking about?"

"Well, this wasn't our first test run."

"Just a few minutes ago we popped soundlessly into the hallway, to overhear none other than our baby sister talking to Harry."

"And guess what they were talking about!"

"What?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Hermione!" George said clapping his hands as though talking to a 3 year old.

"What… what'd they say?" Ron asked nervously.

"Well, being the blabber mouth that she is, Ginny told Harry how Hermione has a bit of a crush on you." Ron's eyes went wide at Fred's words.

"But you didn't hear it from us!" George said, and before Ron knew it the two had disappeared without a sound.

Before Ron even had time to think about what they said, Harry opened the door and poked his head into the room.

"Oh, good, you're in here," Harry said entering the room.

"Yep, what's up?" Ron asked, trying not to seem too eager about Harry's visit with Hermione.

"I've just talked to Hermione," Harry began.

"And…?" Ron asked, leaning forward subconsciously.

"She's not that mad, at all, in fact, she, er, very happy that you knew you were wrong, and she, um, expressed to me that she really cares about you." Harry said looking at his feet, this wasn't one of the things Ron and he talked about very often. They talked about what girls were pretty, and when Harry liked Cho they talked about it occasionally, but they'd never talked about _Hermione._

"Well, Fred and George just told me they overheard Ginny tell you that Hermione likes me. Is… is… it true?" Ron asked hesitantly.

"That's what she told me." Harry said, not able to suppress a smile. It was sort of amusing seeing Ron all worked up over a girl, especially Hermione. He had to admit they were made for each other.

"Harry... this, um," Ron winced slightly and started to turn pink, "may sound weird, but I've liked Hermione for so long."

Harry laughed, "I sort of knew Ron, you, well you haven't concealed it too well."

Ron blushed further at Harry's words. He got up from his seat on the bed and began walking around the room. "But what do I do now? How do I talk to her? If you knew, she probably knows too, I mean she's smarter than both of us combined. Do I tell her? Do I ask her to be my girlfriend? Ah I don't know how to handle this!" Ron's voice escalated as he continued, and Harry just sat watching him pace furiously.

"Ron, Ron, Ron, calm down. Just walk into Hermione's room and tell her you're sorry for being a giant git, and I don't know, take it from there." Harry reasoned.

"Yes, you're right," Ron took a deep breath, "I'm just going to go in there and apologize and see what she says, thanks Harry, you've helped a lot."

"Anytime," Harry said. Ron nodded back at him and walked out the door.

Ron tried to collect his thoughts as he walked towards Hermione's room, but was unsuccessful. A million thoughts flooded through his head, _maybe she really does like me, maybe we can be a couple, am I supposed to kiss her?_

He knocked on the door, someone called for him to come in. Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the floor leaning against a bed talking.

"Um, Ginny, can I, er…"

"Yeah, I'll go see if lunch will be ready any time soon," Ginny said as she got up and exited the room. Only Hermione noticed her wink right before the door closed.

Hermione motioned for Ron to come sit down next to her, and he complied.

"Hermione, I'm sorry I was such a dolt before, I didn't have any right to get mad at you," Ron admitted.

"Do you mean that, Ron?" Hermione said, beginning to smile at him.

"I do, I just get really worked up because it hurts that you might get all caught up with Viktor someday, and… and forget about me," Ron shrugged and started to blush, looking up at Hermione.

"Oh, Ron, I could never forget about you, you don't even realize how much I care about you," Hermione replied warmly, putting her hand on top of Ron's.

"You… you do?" Ron asked looking Hermione in the eye, sounding very surprised.

"Yes," Hermione said, also looking at him.

"Hermione, I…" Ron began, getting caught in the moment but lost for words, "really care about you too." Hermione smiled which gave Ron the encouragement to continue, "And, I like you, I have liked you, as more than a friend, since… well I can't even remember when."

"I've liked you too," Hermione whispered, mesmerized by Ron's words.

"I just want to be with you," Ron told her, surprised those words came out of his mouth.

"I want to be with you too," Hermione replied, shocked that this dream she had been having for years had finally come true.

Ron took Hermione's hand from on top of his own and laced his fingers through her own.

They sat for a moment like that, staring happily into each others eyes when there were 3 knocks on the door. "Lunch time you guys!" they heard Ginny call. Ron stood up and pulled Hermione up after. They walked out the door, Ron holding it open for Hermione, and proceeded down the hall and stairs toward the kitchen. Before entering the kitchen, Ron released Hermione's hand, not quite sure if he wanted anyone else to know about the two of them for now.

As they entered the room the two friends saw Harry, Ginny, Lupin, and Mrs. Weasley in an animated discussion about O.W.L. results.

"Our letters are here!" Harry yelled, waving his letter in the air.

"Oh my gosh, oh no, what do I do?!" Hermione said, face going pale and beginning to pace.

"Well open your letter, obviously," Ginny said handing her a letter, "Harry waited for the two of you, so go on, open them."

Ron and Hermione picked up their letters and stared at them nervously.

"Ok, then, on the count of 3," Harry positioned his hand ready to open the letter, "One, Two, Three."

The three friends viciously opened their letters, especially Hermione.

Each stared at their papers looking seemingly in a trance. Lupin, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley were watching the three avidly, trying to gauge their reactions. Lupin jumped up from the table when he noticed a tear slide down Hermione's face.

"Hermione! What's wrong?" Remus asked rushing over to her. When Mrs. Weasley and Ginny saw her they rushed over too.

Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and began to smile, "Nothing is wrong, nothing at all." Hermione now had a smile from ear to ear.

"Well then, what is it?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"I got… I got a perfect score." Hermione murmured quietly and turned her paper over to show the people standing in front of her.

"But… I heard McGonagall say once that no one had gotten a perfect score in over 10 years." Ginny said, moving forward to get a closer look at Hermione's paper.

"Oh Hermione! That is simply wonderful! We'll have to a have a celebration!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed giving Hermione a hug.

Hermione still seemed dazed, and kept re-reading her exam results to make sure it was not one of her many grade-obsessed dreams. _History of Magic – O, Transfiguration – O, Potions – O, Herbology – O, Care of Magical Creatures – O, Defense Against the Dark Arts – O, Astronomy – O, Arithmancy – O_.

"Well, boys how'd you do?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she looked over Ron's shoulder at his grades. Ron was actually fairly happy. He had studied a lot more than everyone thought; he even started over a month ahead. When everyone else was sleeping, he pulled his curtain shut and took out his books. No one realized how much Ron wanted to be an Auror; he wanted to prove himself worthy. _Not bad, in the end, not bad at all, History of Magic – A (good thing Hermione let me copy her study guide), Transfiguration – O, Potions – O (2 hours a night for 6 weeks, I'd hope so), Herbology –E (well Neville can bloody never stop talking about it), Care of Magical Creatures – E (Once we had Professor Grubby-Plank), Defense Against the Dark Arts – O (Obviously, thanks to the DA), Astronomy – A (Well, they were arresting Hagrid!), Divination – P (Now if had done _good,_ I would have been worried)_

"Oh, Ronald, I'm so proud of you!" Mrs. Weasley gave her son a suffocating hug.

"Mum, mum, enough!" Ron croaked, struggling to breath

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie, but I'm just so proud of you, 8 O.W.L.'s! How wonderful! I can't wait to tell your father."

"How'd you do mate?" Ron began to blush at his mothers words so he figured he could direct the attention towards Harry.

"Pretty good," _By that I mean that I am using all measures of personal restraint to stop myself from dancing and screaming for joy, who would have thought?! Well, actually, I was studying every night when everyone else was sleeping. You never know when you might need a tiny bit of information in the midst of a war. History of Magic - A (good enough for me), Transfiguration – O (Oh McGonagall will be proud), Potions – O (bite me, Snape), Herbology – O (Neville talks about it in his sleep, I must have picked up a little), Care of Magical Creatures – E (We got a head start from Grubby-Plank), Defense Against the Dark Arts – O (I'd hope I know it well by now), Astronomy – P (Well what do you expect?!), Divination – A (At least I didn't describe the reflection of the man on the other side of the glass ball like Ron did). _

"Harry you did lovely too!" Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry, a little quicker than with Ron (_Thankfully)_.

"Oh wow, I wonder if I should take full N.E.W.T. courses then! Of course I should! This is so exciting! I've been looking so forward to my N.E.W.T. years, I hear you learn more in 1 N.E.W.T. level year than in the first 4 years of Hogwarts combined!" Hermione exclaimed, finally expressing everything she was thinking.

"Oh great, sounds like this year will be a blast." Ron murmured, rolling his eyes.

"I know. I hear the minimum number of classes you have to take is 4 though, so that's pretty good." Harry responded with a grin.

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, as he high-fived Harry.

"Oh you boys will not be taking just 4 classes! If you want to get anywhere after Hogwarts you _know_ you'll have to push yourselves a little harder than that!" Hermione was waving her finger at the boys with other hand on her hip, looking more like Molly Weasley than could be imagined.

After Hermione's speech another owl flew in through the kitchen window and dropped letters in front of Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

"What now?" Ron asked opening up his letter. Ron read the letter carefully.

_Mr. Weasley,_

_Congratulations on completing your O.W.L. exams. For the upcoming near, you will need to apply for the N.E.W.T. level classes you wish to take for your final two years of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please fill out the attached form and indicate which classes you would like to apply for and send it back within the next week. The corresponding teachers will be told of your application and will examine your O.W.L. scores and past performances and see if you are eligible for their class. You will be notified of your acceptances and informed of your necessary supplies around the time when the other school letters are sent out. Please do not take your decision lightly as your N.E.W.T. classes will effect your profession after Hogwarts._

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress _

"How Exciting!" Hermione exclaimed when she finished reading her letter, "Can you believe we are already going into N.E.W.T. classes? Oh this is going to be such a hard choice; I just want to take all my classes.

"You better not do the time-turner thing again," Harry said warningly.

"What? Who used a time-turner?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"Nothing mum," Ron lied, "it's just an expression."

"Oh, well then, what classes will you three be taking?" Mrs. Weasley asked politely, forgetting all about the time-turner 'expression'.

"I think we'll have to think about it a while," Harry said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, he didn't want to tell his mom quite yet that he wanted to be an Auror. He didn't think she'd take it well; she didn't like him being in danger.

"I need to go start thinking about this," Hermione started walking towards the kitchen door.

"But Hermione it's not due for a week!" Ron called as she was exiting. He knew there was no point, she's probably already up in her room reading through all her books trying to decide which subjects she likes best.

"With Hermione, I think we all know there's no stopping her now."

Ron jerked his head quickly toward the door to see his Headmaster standing in the doorway staring right back at him, eyes twinkling.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir, what are you doing here?" Ron asked, in a bit of a daze.

"Ah, well, Mr. Weasley, I believe I have scheduled an appointment with Mr. Potter."

Harry stood up from his seat at the table, "Yes sir." Harry walked forward toward Dumbledore.

"Well then, I guess we will be seeing you all in a little while, enjoy the rest of your lunch." With a twinkle, Dumbledore put his hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him out the door.

"Harry, I figured we could talk in the library, I don't think you've ever been in there yet. It is another one of the rooms Sirius has masterfully redone. It is also where Mr. Lupin spends most of his time, here in Grimmauld Place. I daresay if Ms. Granger ever found it we'd never see her again." Dumbledore then turned to face Harry, his brilliant blue eyes still twinkling. Harry wondered what they were going to talk about, Dumbledore sure seemed extremely happy.

Dumbledore finally turned away from Harry and led him down an unfamiliar hallway that Harry had never noticed before. It was apparently through a door that was off of the hallway leading to the basement kitchen. The headmaster stopped in front of a beautiful dark oak wood door with a shining gold handle. When Harry entered the room he was amazed at how nice it was. It was fairly large, yet still very cozy. A fireplace was going on the far wall, and bookshelves covered in books lined every inch of every wall. There was a beautiful red oriental rug and large black leather chairs were positioned about the room. Facing the fireplace was a matching black leather couch surrounded by a few chairs and a wooden table. Overall, the room looked very inviting and Harry agreed with Dumbledore that Hermione would have a field day if she ever realized all the books she had access to here.

"Come, let's sit down by the fire, it's a bit chilly in here, don't you think." Dumbledore said clasping his navy blue robe to his old body.

Harry just nodded and followed Dumbledore to the other side of the room where he sat down in one of the chairs, which he found was extremely comfortable.

With a flick of Dumbledore's wand, tea and a dish of lemon drops were sitting on the table that was separating the two wizards. "Tea or lemon drops?" Dumbledore asked Harry as he reached for both for himself.

"No thank you, sir." Harry replied shaking his head.

"Very well, more for me," Dumbledore said as he put a lemon drop in his mouth. "Well Harry, there is a lot I wish to talk to you about. Where to begin? Oh yes, firstly, how are you? How has your summer been thus far?" Dumbledore asked, looking intently at Harry. Harry felt as if he was searching Harry's soul for the answers to the greatest mysteries on earth, when he was just looking for the answer to a simple question.

"It's been fine, Headmaster, and yours?" Harry replied politely.

"No, no, Harry. We will be working together a lot in the upcoming months, as I will explain later. You are going to have to be open with me. You had no problem expressing your anger to me at the end of the past school year. I need to know how you are doing Harry, I'm here to listen." Dumbledore sounded very serious, yet retained his caring nature. Harry didn't know quite what to think, was Dumbledore trying to be his psychologist?

"Well, sir, to be honest, I think about Sirius many times a day, living in this house is a constant reminder of what I've done to him, and I just don't know what to do about it."

"Harry there's nothing you can do." Dumbledore said plainly.

"I feel like I _should_ be doing something though, it doesn't seem rightto just sit around socializing when the person who killed Sirius is running around out there killing people!" Harry didn't know where his anger was coming from, he was fine before. He hadn't talked about Sirius with anyone yet. He had so many feelings about all of it, all bottled up… well… Dumbledore _was_ telling him to be open about it.

"Harry, I know this is hard, you've lost a lot of people in your life already, more than any person should ever have to. But if you keep blaming yourself for Sirius's death, you will lead the wizarding world to _its_ death." Dumbledore was almost pleading with Harry. It hurt the old wizard dearly to see Harry hurt, he cared for Harry deeply, the boy felt like a son to him. The boy had faced so much already… and he knew there was so much more to come.

"But Sir, I am not even doing any thing. I'm sitting here idly, I'm the only one who can stop Voldemort and I'm sitting at the kitchen table worrying about my O.W.L.'s."

Dumbledore smiled, "Well Harry you've brought us to our next point. It's time for you to get a little more involved. With power comes responsibility; you have the power, and this year you will be taking on a lot more responsibility."

Harry's stomach fluttered at Dumbledore's words, he was excited for responsibility. Maybe he would be allowed to join the order? _No, they probably just want me to ignore Malfoy or something unimportant. _

"Firstly, Harry, you were in a very dangerous battle position at the ministry. Though in the past 2 years you have battled Voldemort twice, I daresay you've gotten a bit lucky each time. There is no doubt that he is a powerful wizard, and you also are too, you just have not had time to develop as he has. So this summer and continuing through the year, you will be instructed by Order members on the skills you will eventually need to face Voldemort."

"So… I'm going to be in class over the summer?" Harry asked, the excitement leaving him as quick as it had come.

"No, no, no," Dumbledore chuckled, "Rest assured, this will be nothing like the classes you are used to. Your first lesson will be this evening after dinner with Alastor. Your instructors have been discussing what they believe is most important and each will be teaching you a different aspect of battle." Dumbledore was smiling broadly, enjoy watching the expressions on Harry's face change with each sentence he said.

"Who will the instructors be?" Harry asked, barely able to sit still.

"Well, Alastor, as I mentioned already, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Minerva occasionally, and myself."

"What will you be teaching me, sir?" Harry asked, he knew how powerful Dumbledore was. _The only one he fears_, Harry thought. Certainly with Dumbledore's help he'd be a force for Voldemort to reckon with.

"Well, seeing as how things didn't work out so well with Professor Snape, I believe it is in everyone's best interest if _I_ personally teach you Occlumency. This way, I hope you will actually make some progress and avoid another incident like last year."

"When will we start?" Harry was eager, he thought the subject of occlumency was very important now and couldn't wait to begin (especially since it was Dumbledore instead of Snape).

"Hm… How does tomorrow sound? Around the same time as today?" Dumbledore inquired, taking another lemon drop from the dish.

"That sounds fine, sir," Harry replied.

"Lovely! Moving on, I am pleased to hear that you have a new legal guardian," Dumbledore was smiling at Harry with twinkling eyes.

"Yes, it was one of Sirius's last wishes," Harry replied sorrowfully.

"Yes, so it was, but does it not please you?" Dumbledore looked slightly concerned.

"I'm very happy about it, I've liked Remus since I first met him, its just that I'm going through guardians pretty quickly now, I wouldn't want to cause Remus's death like I did Sirius."

"Harry, you need to get past the fact that you weren't the cause of Sirius's death. I want you to think about Sirius, and what he would be thinking about you blaming yourself for his death. And Remus knows the responsibilities of being your guardian. I think it actually pleases him more than anything that's happened to him since he came to teach at Hogwarts."

"Do you really mean that? Is he actually happy to be my guardian?" So many thoughts were running through Harry's head, _does he actually care for me? Does he know the consequences of being associated with the boy who lived?_

"Harry, I think there is a lot for you to know about Mr. Lupin. Since your parents' deaths, he was extremely depressed for a long time. The marauders, as they call themselves, thrived off each other. Remus's world came crashing to a hault when three of his closest friends were suddenly gone. And we mustn't forget his lycanthropy, because he sure doesn't. As long as society can't get past his condition, he will never be able to either. As you know, it is extremely difficult for him to get a job in the wizarding world. He has been working at a muggle bookshop outside Diagon Alley since he resigned from his post at Hogwarts." Dumbledore explained to Harry.

"Where does he live?" Harry asked, suddenly very concerned for his new parent.

"I believe in a small apartment near his job. He sadly does not get very high wages at his job, but as you know he lives here in Grimmauld Place during the summers. I think living here with you and seeing all of the Order members is the favorite part of his year."

Harry was speechless, he'd noticed before when Lupin would get a sad look in his eyes, reflecting all of the hurt that's been in his life. He hadn't thought about how bad Sirius's death must have been for him. To think you have your best friend back who was gone for 12 years, just to die again. Harry couldn't help it, tears welled up in his eyes. He'd been so good about crying in front of others so far, saving his sobs for late at night with his face buried in his pillow.

Dumbledore just watched the young wizard sniffle and rub his eyes to prevent a tear from dropping from his green eyes. The usually exuberant old man looked extremely dejected, and felt himself like crying. Though Dumbledore believed that crying was simply the opposite of smiling, and nothing to be ashamed of, he felt it would be inappropriate to try and reassure Harry. The boy lost another person, but there is no comfort but the comfort of time and self-revelations that can fix anything, or so Dumbledore believed.

After giving Harry sometime to think, Dumbledore decided it was time to speak up, "Harry, have you considered telling Remus about the prophecy now that he is your guardian?"

"Oh man!" Harry exclaimed as he smacked himself on the head, "I totally forgot, you see, I told Ron and Hermione, and well Ginny too, and they just reinforced so much that there's no rush to tell anyone so I've sort of put it in the back of my mind. I feel like rubbish that I didn't tell Remus, after he's opened up to me so much."

"So then you intend to?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Yes, for sure," Harry responded.

"I think that is a wise decision, and from the leader of the Order, I assure you that Remus is one of our most trusted members and would never tell a soul." Dumbledore wanted to reassure Harry that it was important to tell Remus; Remus had to know everything about Harry to be able to guide him through this difficult time.

"Oh, I have no doubts about that. Professor…" Harry stopped talking and looked down at his feet for a moment before he looked back at a pair of blue eyes that were watching him intently. Harry tried again, "Professor, can I join the Order?"

Dumbledore smiled knowingly, "That was actually our next order of business, no pun intended. I thought you'd be asking me soon."

Harry looked at Dumbledore expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"Well Harry I've thought about this a lot. As you know from our talk last year, it is very hard for me to decide these issues about you, as my personal feelings for you get in the way. However, I believe on this issue I have made the right decision. In light of your knowledge of the prophecy and your involvement with it (which the Order does not even know about) I believe it would be appropriate for you to join the Order now."

It was very difficult for Harry to hold back the cry of victory he was trying so hard to suppress, "Yes! Er… Sir, will Ron and Hermione be allowed to join too?"

"Alas, no. Mrs. Weasley insists that Ron is still too young, for I just asked her at our last meeting. I also had Minerva speak with the Grangers before they went into hiding, and from what they could gather about it after Minerva's explanation they decided it was too dangerous for their daughter and would prefer to let her wait until she's a legal adult."

"But, then, I'll be the only student joining?" Harry inquired tentatively.

"Yes, but I'm pleased to tell you that Fred and George just joined the Order at the beginning of the summer."

"Fred and George?! Fred and George WEASLEY?" Harry was sure Dumbledore must be mistaken. First of all, Mrs. Weasley would never let them join. Second of all, would they even want to? Weren't they busy with the joke shop?

"Oh yes, and I feel they will be an important asset to the Order," Dumbledore divulged.

"Asset?" now Harry was just plain curious, "with what, they're jokes?" Harry's temper was rising, if Dumbledore thought two pranksters will be an important asset then perhaps he should try a little harder with his recruiting.

"As a matter of fact, indeed! While the two never quite… _applied_ themselves in school, there is no doubt in my mind they were two of the brightest in their class. The inventions they make are by no means simple at all; even if they _are_ just practical jokes," Dumbledore speculated.

"So how are they going to help the Order?" Harry wasn't convinced. Even if they are bright; they have no experience in fighting other wizards.

"Fred and George have agreed to start working on inventions that could be useful to the Order while they also work on things for their new store. I believe they have already developed one and are in the testing stage. I seem to recollect them calling them 'Soundless Smoothies'." Dumbledore recalled.

"Oh… yes, _that,_" while Harry thought it was great the twins were helping the Order he wished they could do it without eavesdropping on his conversations.

"Indeed that, it should be revolutionary in the art of surprise; with an invisibility cloak, we will be able to apparate unnoticed to battle scenes attack people without being seen."

"Yah, I never thought of that… but couldn't that be dangerous if someone on the other side has an eye like Moody's or something and then the Order member will not be prepared to defend themselves," Harry asserted.

"Interesting point, Harry," Dumbledore said as he considered Harry's point, "But, an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy to be called an idea at all." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he reached forward for another lemon drop.

"Well then, since you seem so eager, why not have the induction into the Order… well today's Monday so…. At the meeting Wednesday night? Will that work for you?" Dumbledore asked excitedly.

"Yes, that's fine sir, but can I tell Hermione and Ron?" Harry felt bad that he was able to join and his friends weren't. Then again, he _was_ the one who was destined to bring or be brought down by the Dark Lord to top all Dark Lords.

"Of course you can tell them you are joining, and as to what we discuss… well I'd say use your judgement. Though it was long ago, I seem to recall nothing stays a secret for long between teenagers," Dumbledore smiled as he poured himself some tea, "Tea?"

"No thank you sir," Harry was glad he'd at least be able to tell his friends everything.

"Suit yourself," Dumbledore took a sip, "Mmm, tea and lemon drops are always delectable at noon, in my opinion. Well, Harry, we have a few more matters to discuss. Do you remember that secret Defense Association you and your friends established last year?"

"Yes sir, and oh sir, I never got the chance to properly thank you for, er, for getting fired in order to save my… to save me from getting expelled. It was a stupid idea of us…"

Harry got cut off by Dumbledore who had his hand held up, "No, no, Harry. It was not a stupid idea at all. I commend you on the idea, as a matter of fact. Getting all of the houses together, especially during the time like this and when there is only so much time for defense to be taught in class," Dumbledore protested.

"But still sir, we shouldn't have named it Dumbledore's army. I should have known that if someone saw the list you would immediately be the one to get in trouble," Harry reasoned, still mad at himself for causing Dumbledore to go into hiding.

"I'm honored that my name was on the top of your list, I wish I was as clever as Hermione to think of starting the club!" the old wizard joked. "But in all seriousness, Harry, it was great to see that list- people from all different houses _willingly_ meeting up together to learn self defense from each other. And so, I was wondering you would like to continue with the Defense Association (if you don't mind a bit of a name change). It would of course not need to be secret, since I will be Headmaster again once school starts."

"You really want me to do it? I'm not that good at teaching… and some people were hesitant to listen," Harry reasoned.

"Of course, I can think of no one else better suited for the job. I think it will be great for building character building, not only for you, but for all of the students to realize that it is not shameful to listen to each other and work together. As the sorting hat said last year, it is time for us all to unite. And perhaps if the club was not banned by the school, less people will be uncertain about joining. And if people don't want to listen to you, then they will not, however I have confidence that they will," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he reassured Harry, "And from what I've heard, you are an exquisite teacher."

"Ok then, I'll do it," Harry agreed.

"Excellent, we will make more formal arrangements about it once school nears." Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Now, might I be correct to guess that you received or O.W.L. results today?"

"Yes sir, just before lunch," Harry replied softly, he'd forgotten about them. He couldn't believe he hadn't failed anything!

"I've very proud of how well you did, Harry. You have a bright future ahead of you. I was wondering if you'd thought about what classes you would like to take this year, at N.E.W.T. level." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled slightly; Harry couldn't help but stare at this confident man.

How could Dumbledore have so much faith in him? 'You have a bright future ahead of you', _Yeah, assuming I kill Voldemort and make it out alive,_ Harry thought bitterly.

"Well, I plan to just take all of the necessary classes to go into Auror training after Hogwarts," Harry told the old wizard.

"Yes, I do recall Minerva telling me that," Dumbledore looked down at the floor in concentration, "Yes, well, that was all I was wondering for now. Anything that you, perhaps, would like to discuss?"

"Um, no sir, nothing I can think of," Harry replied casually. This was a very nice conversation. Usually when he talked to Dumbledore for extended periods of time it was usually after seeing Voldemort. The casual air to the conversation was very comforting to Harry, as though his Headmaster came to see him just because he enjoyed the company- not because he needed special treatment so he could bring down a dark lord.

"Then I suppose I should be going, I have an appointment soon with the Minister of Magic and his council, much to my dismay." Dumbledore smiled and Harry suddenly noticed all of the many wrinkles on his face – wow the man was old, "I will see you at your induction to the Order, Harry. Oh and dress robes, please, it will be a formal and time-honored affair."

Dumbledore pocketed a few lemon drops, and with a pop the old wizard was gone.

------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Don't forget to review please! Hope you enjoyed it! if not, tell me why please


	8. Emotion Control

A/N: So Sorry this took so long! You know how it is with the holidays and all of that, and now I'm trying to adjust back to normal life, but at least it's here!

A couple responses to reviews: Smilygirl: thanks for your comment about the soundless smoothies, I hadn't thought of that, but pulling a JK and making up a reason on the spot, the only sounds which are effected are sounds that are a result of the person coming into contact with their surroundings, since talking is from their vocal chords which is internal, there is no sound, so if they were to hiccup or their stomach growled, that would be heard too.

For the record, I dont have a beta - I try really hard to do it myself and I'm aware there are some mistakes, but my issue with beta's is that I like to submit the chapter right when I finish it, not after I send it to someone who's away on vacation this week so they can't get it back to me for 1 weeks and yah... I think you get my point.

Anyways, thank you all for the lovely reviews, and Ihope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Harry was left standing alone in the large, elegant library of 12 Grimmauld Place. After having his discussion with Dumbledore, he was a bit overwhelmed. _This year was going to be a very different one..._ There was so much he wanted to think about, he didn't know where to begin.

"Wow, Harry," Hermione murmured in amazement after Harry briefed Hermione, Ron, and Ginny about his conversation with Dumbledore, "they're preparing you to battle Voldemort! Finally, they're taking you seriously!"

Suddenly, with a flutter of red, Fawkes the phoenix appeared in front of Harry, dropping a letter on his lap. Before Harry could even reach out to pet the bird it was gone again.

"Wonder what that was about!" Ron exclaimed, looking confused.

Harry carefully picked up the letter that Fawkes had dropped. It was a small piece of paper.

_Harry,_

_Forgot to mention that Kingsley Shacklebolt will be by atseven o'clockthis evening for your first lesson! Mr. and Mrs. Weasley already know about the lessons so no explanation will be necessary. Remus has charmed the room next to Sirius's to accommodate your lessons. See you tomorrow!_

_Professor Dumbledore_

"Oh, it's just Dumbledore telling me I have a lesson with Kingsley tonight at seven," Harry explained to his friends.

"That's so exciting, isn't it?" Ginny added, "I mean, I wonder what he's going to teach you!"

"Yah," Harry's stomach fluttered at the thought of the lessons. There was so much he needed to learn, and after the battle at the ministry he knew that there was so much out there for him to be taught if he ever wanted to compete with Voldemort.

He looked out the window; the sun was still high in the sky. _Still got a while until seven o'clock, _Harry thought.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by a call from Mrs. Weasley, "Kids! Kids! Come down to the kitchen!"

"Uck," Ron moaned, "I wonder what sort of disgusting cleaning we're going to have to do today."

"Well, we'll find out soon, won't we Ronnie?" Ginny mocked, giving Ron a smirk.

The four friends trudged down the stairs. This was their least favorite part of living at Grimmauld Place; the never ending cleaning. Yes, it was a great house for the Order Headquarters, but was it really necessary for it to have a never ending supply of rooms for them to clean?

In the basement kitchen (the only one the Order used), Mrs. Weasley was waiting with four large buckets at her feet. Ron just moaned when saw them, "Oh nooo."

"Oh yes, Ron," Mrs. Weasley replied smiling, "you bunch will be cleaning the walls of the main formal dining room upstairs. An unhealthy growth of mold seems to be sprouting there…" Mrs. Weasley scowled, "BUT, here, fill these buckets up with soap and water, there's some sponges already there, and I'll call you back to wash up for dinner at 5:30!"

The group did as they were told and went upstairs to the formal dining room. The walls, which Harry guessed were originally covered in wallpaper, were now a stomach-lurching bright green.

"Oh, smells like something died in here!" Harry spat, pinching his nose.

"Yeah, mate, a thousand skunks or something," Ron added, following Harry's lead of covering up his nose.

"Stop complaining, maybe we can get this done early" Hermione nagged as she picked up a sponge and began scrubbing. "Ick!" Hermione sputtered, "it really does smell!" The group of friends laughed as Hermione covered up her face with her hand.

Eventually, the four all took up sponges and began scrubbing one of the long walls of the room. The room was fairly empty; there was a large wooden table in the center of the room that seemed to be deteriorating, along with red cushioned wood chairs that were also in a dreary state. There was nothing else in the room; no paintings or pictures on the wall.

They'd been scrubbing for over an hour, but had made a lot of progress. One of the large walls was already clean. They'd revealed white wallpaper with a green vine pattern underneath the layers of mold. The four friends washed out their buckets and filled them up with clean water, Hermione's suggestion. They moved on to the next large wall.

"Geez, I really don't want to do this all over again," Harry scoffed throwing his sponge into his filled-up bucket.

"Agh," Ron gasped as the soapy water from Harry's bucket splashed him. Ron dunked his sponge in his own bucket and threw it at Harry, but missed and it hit Hermione square in the face.

"Ron Weasley! You did not just do that!" Hermione squealed. Hermione dunked _her_ sponge into a bucket and threw it at Ron in revenge. Ron cleverly ducked and it hit Ginny, who now had bubbles dripping down her chin. Harry snickered at the sight.

"What are you laughing at, Potter?!" Ginny dipped her sponge in the bucket, scooping up as much bubbles as she could and proceeded to walk over to Harry with the sponge behind her back. He just stood watching her, when she whipped the sponge out from behind her back and squeezed it out on top of Harry's head.

"Ah," was all Harry managed to say as water streamed down his head. When Ginny finally stopped, he ruffled up his hair so some of the water in his hair would spray Ginny, but he ended up with his long hair sticking straight up.

"Haha, Harry you look like a monster!" Ron pointed and laughed at Harry.

"We'll see who looks like a monster when I get revenge on _you_!" Hermione grabbed her bucket of water and poured the entire thing on Ron's head.

Ron just stood there motionless, occasionally spitting bubbles out of his mouth with a scowl while the others watched. Finally, he broke out in a smile, "Hermione you are _so_ dead."

Hermione turned to run away from Ron, but Ron grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a hug from behind.

"Ew, Ron you're getting me all wet!" Hermione exclaimed as she tried to free herself, but with a smile on her face.

"Good! You deserve it!" Ron yelled back at her.

As Hermione was kicking and screaming she kicked Harry, who was watching the scene, who stumbled backwards and hit a bucket that spilled water on Ginny's legs.

"Uck! Harry!" Ginny said looking down at her legs and moving towards Harry.

"I didn't _mean_ to!" Harry explained as he started running away from Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley entered the room to find the 4 teenagers chasing each other and fighting each other and water spill all over the floor.

"_What_ do you all think your doing?" Mrs. Weasley screamed, "Look at the mess you've made!"

The four looked around and saw buckets askew, puddles of water all over the floor, and soap on the walls, floor and furniture.

"Oh, and look at your clothes," Mrs. Weasley hollered, "Go clean up while I clean up your mess,"

Without say a word, the four friends trudged out of the room, defeated but with smiles.

"You look really handsome Ron," Harry joked. Ron was completely soaked in water and with his rather shaggy hair he looked like some sort of animal.

"I'd say the same about you, mate," Ron replied to his best friend. Harry's wet hair was sticking strait up and it looked as if he'd just gotten electrified.

The four friends all went in their respective rooms to change for dinner. Harry's heart was beating fast, he hadn't had this much fun since… well, since his surprise party. He felt suddenly mad at himself, for having this much fun. Having water fights wasn't the way to save the wizarding world… there was too much at stake to risk. His brow furrowed and he seemed suddenly angry.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked after glancing at Harry.

"What? Nothing," Harry replied; Ron wouldn't understand, his biggest worries are quidditch and Hermione.

"Ok… if you say so," Ron said, fully knowing something was wrong, but not quite wanting a Harry temper tantrum.

Without another word to his friend, Harry walked out the door. It was times like this that Harry wished he wasn't in a house full of people. He just wanted to disappear, be somebody else, allow himself to have fun without guilt. Couldn't someone else be Harry Potter for a while? He _was_ a wizard; there must be some sort of spell or potion to switch lives with someone else for a little while.

Harry walked into the kitchen and found Tonks, Remus, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in an animated discussion. They all looked up and stopped their talking when they saw Harry.

"Hey Harry! Heard you and your buds got in a bit of a water fight upstairs?" Tonks, today with blonde hair, asked Harry with a wink.

"Er… yah, sorry Mrs. Weasley." Harry said as he blushed a little.

"Never mind dear," Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a small look of pity, "nothing a few spells couldn't clean up.

The rest of Harry's friends came down the stairs and sat down at the table with Harry. They had a fairly quiet meal that mainly consisted of Tonks telling stories about tricks she'd played by using her metamorphmagus powers.

"So then I came back in the room, this time with black hair, a big nose, brown eyes and asked him if he'd seen an auror around here. And guess what he did? He fainted!" Tonks told the table as everyone erupted into laughter.

As the laughter began to die down, the kitchen door opened and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt," the man said in a deep voice.

"Kingsley, how lovely to see you! Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? Or maybe some tea?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she started moving around the kitchen.

"No thanks, Molly, I just ate. I'm just here for Harry."

"I'm ready," Harry stood up and walked over to Kingsley, "See you all in a little while."

"So how's your vacation been so far?" Kingsley asked Harry as they walked up the stairs.

"Not too bad, I guess," Harry lied, it was bad, Sirius was gone, and he had to cope with it every day.

"Harry," Kingsley spoke softly as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I'm sorry about Sirius, I know he meant a lot to you. I know how you feel though. During the first war, my uncle was killed by Voldemort. He was a brilliant man; a master of potions, and had just returned to England to visit from teaching in Eastern Europe. Voldemort sought him out to make potions for him, when my uncle refused he was promptly killed."

"How did you deal with it?" Harry asked quietly.

"Well that was when I decided to join the Order, so innocent people would stop getting killed. Just like Sirius, I know there are things that are worth dying for, innocent lives like my uncle's. If I died, but in the long run helped save countless other lives, I'd be happy."

Before Harry had time to think about Kingsley's words, they had reached the room that Harry was going to get to know very well, with time.

"Here we are," the elder wizard announced as he held open the door for Harry to walk through.

The room was very large, about 50 yards, Harry estimated. It was completely empty, no furniture or carpeting. The walls and floor seemed to all be made of the same material, a light gray slightly rubbery material.

"Oh yes, this will be great for practicing," Kingsley said excitedly, "but before we begin I have a gift for you, for your birthday, from Tonks, Remus, Moody, and myself." Kinglsey gave Harry a bag that was in his hand that Harry hadn't noticed until now.

Harry removed a black jacket from the bag, a leather jacket, Harry assumed.

"It's dragon hide," Kingsley explained, "similar to what Fred and George have, but this one is special."

"Yeah, it's not hideous," Harry joked. In fact, Harry thought it was brilliant; it had a slight shine to it and was extremely smooth. There were no scales like Fred and George's and it wasn't an appalling color.

Kingsley laughed, "Yes, that and it has the same properties of Dragon hide, it is a very good insulator and is capable of repelling simple spells and jinxes."

"You mean, if someone tries to jinx me, it won't work?" Could this be true?

"Exactly, so do you like it?" Kinsley asked with a smile.

Harry tried it on, it fit perfectly. "Like it? It's brilliant! Thank you!"

"Well a sixteenth birthday isn't to be taken lightly," Kingsley laughed with his rich baritone voice. "Well, now that you've got the proper attire, are you ready to begin your lesson?" Harry nodded, "Great. As Professor Dumbledore probably mentioned, each Order member will be teaching you a particular skill. I will be teaching you wandless magic."

"Wandless magic? Is there even such a thing?" Harry questioned, he'd never heard of it, but it sounded like it could be true.

"Of course there is, how else could I teach it to you? You've probably seen it before, Dumbledore uses it quite often. It takes an extremely powerful wizard to be able to do it and a lot of practice. Therefore, I do think you shall be able to master it with time."

Harry smiled at Kingsley's compliment, "How does it work? I thought a wand was necessary to do magic?"

"Well Harry, Remus told me that one time when you were younger you blew up your aunt when you got angry with her?"

"Yes…" Was that wandless magic that Harry hadn't realized he was doing?

"_That _was wandless magic. All wizards and witches have magic within them, in their blood and in their hearts, flowing through them at all times. When you cast a spell with your wand, the materials within the wand have magical properties. These magical properties focus the magic that is within you from your body, to your mouth (when you say the spell), and then to the wand where it directs the power in an almost invisible stream of magic."

"But if that's what your wand does, then how can I perform magic without a wand?" Harry asked, quite confused.

"When you blew up your aunt you were feeling quite angry, no doubt. That emotion was felt strongly in your brain, where your body has its emotions. Since you were feeling it particularly strongly, the magic was able to concentrate in your brain. Though perhaps subconsciously, you were envisioning your aunt blowing up. And so, that magical power in your brain was focused on making your aunt blowup."

"But I didn't say a spell," Harry spoke almost pleadingly.

"Ah, you are correct, but the magical power that was focused was so great that it was not necessary. The words which you say to perform a spell or charm are to help focus your energy on a _specific_ spell, charm, et cetera. That way, not any old emotion or thought comes out when you are trying to perform your magic." Kingsley explained.

"Does that mean you can do magic without a wand and without saying anything?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry! You're very quick, aren't you? It is possible to do magic without a wand and without speaking, but very few wizards can do it because it involved extreme concentration and power."

"Can you?" Harry inquired.

The dark skinned man blushed slightly, "Yes, but it has taken me many years to master and I'm not nearly as good as Professor Dumbledore."

"Would you show me?" Harry was getting excited, if he could do learn to do magic without a wand and without speaking there was no end to the possibilities of things he could do.

Kingsley chuckled, "Sure." He reachedintohis pocket and put a bronze knut on the ground. With his hands at his sides, he looked intensely at the small piece of metal. After a second, the coin was rising and doing loops in the air. His eyes followed the movement of the coin and after a few loops he made the coin rest on the ground again.

"Will I be able to do that?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Maybe eventually, but for now we're just going to work on wandless, and gradually work on saying things quieter until you can do it without saying anything at all," Harry nodded in understanding, "So the first thing you need to know is that any emotion can drive your magical power. You need to focus on this emotion, think about it, and try and strengthen it. You're going to need to learn how to control your emotions, to find which emotion you can best control so that you can use it when you need to. Eventually, you'll become a more powerful wizard; there will be more magical power within you and less emotion will be necessary. But for now, I need to you to think of the emotion you have felt strongest at some point in your life. It might take you quite a few tries before you find an emotion that's strong enough."

Harry thought, _Happiness? When Sirius said I could live with him? Strong, but not the strongest… Sirius… When he died… sadness, but there was also confusion, I thought he'd still come back. But he didn't, anger, at Bellatrix Lestrange… yes! When I tried to cast an unforgivable on her…_ Harry shuddered at the memory, but could feel the anger rising within him regardless.

"Ok, I've got it." Harry was ready for this, he'd never been as angry in his life as he has been at Bellatrix Lestrange that night.

"Good, Harry. I must caution you now, you need to summon the emotion quickly. You can't take your time building up the emotion. The power resulting from the emotion will be greatest when the emotion is summed in a short period of time. Force equals mass times acceleration, right? So if you want a great force, you must get a _strong_ emotion and get it _fast_… got it, Harry?"

"Er… yes, I think so," Harry wasn't sure how easy this seemed anymore, getting angry fast? He could barely control his emotions as it was.

"You care to try a few times, Harry?" Kingsley asked, sounding very optimistic and confident in his pupil. He placed the bronze knut in front of Harry on the floor.

"Sure," Harry said a little too quickly.

"Ok, now use that emotion you have bottled up," Kingsley told Harry.

Harry thought back as he stared at the knut, memories of his battle at the ministry came to mind. When Bellatrix and Sirius were battling because neither noticed that Dumbledore had walked in, when Bellatrix hit Sirius with a bolt of red light causing him to fall through the veil, her laugh… _Yes, the laugh,_ Harry thought, _her awful cackle…_ Harry's mind was filled with the sound of Bellatrix laughing at Sirius and himself, mocking them, laughing at him when he tried to cast the unforgivable curse on her. Harry's anger flared a bit.

"Come on, Harry, it's already been 5 minutes, are you feeling any emotion? Maybe you should try a different emotion," Kingsley offered.

"No, this is the strongest one I have," Harry assured his teacher. His life was filled of frustrating and angering memories; he just had to think _harder_.

He remembered Umbridge, and the time in the headmaster's office when she made Dumbledore flee, and tried to get Harry kicked out of school. His anger was beginning to rise again. He recalled when Umbridge had banned him from quidditch and proceeded to lock up his broom, how bored he'd felt without quidditch. He stared as hard as he could at the knut on the ground, it wasn't moving. _Come on, Harry, try harder! _Harry encouraged himself, the many nights spent in detention in Umbridge's room, watching as blood trickled down his hand.

Unless they knew what was expected to happen, a person in the room with Harry would never have noticed the small knut on the ground begin to vibrate and even wobble a little. Harry and Kingsley, however, did and both immediately began to laugh when it happened. Kinsley even began clapping and congratulating Harry.

"Stupendous work, Harry! That was much more than I expected on the first day!" Kingsley congratulated as he patted Harry on the back.

Harry couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, but I think I have a while to go before I can do what you can do," Harry replied modestly.

"Ah, with time Harry, you'll see your power, but for now I think we've done enough. Wouldn't want to wear you out, Dumbledore would hex the brains out of me."

Harry laughed, "Thank you for the lesson, I can't wait for the next."

"Good, I'm glad you liked it. I'll contact you through someone to tell you when our next lesson will be. See you at your Order induction!" Kingsley voiced right before he apparated out of Grimmauld Place.

_I can't believe I actually moved the knut, well not moved, but, you know, it's a start_, Harry mused.

He proceeded slowly out the door and down the hallway. Near the stairs, he passed the door to Sirius's old room and couldn't help but notice that it was open a crack. After staring at the doorknob for a few moments in contemplation, the young wizard decided he might as well go in. The room seemed to have been left relatively untouched. There were books on the shelves, materials on the desk, and he even noticed a bit of blue clothing sticking out of one of the drawers.

Harry walked around, examining the room, but too scared to touch anything. _It's just Sirius's room, your godfather, not some scary old dead guy,_ Harry tried to reassure himself. He was about to head for the door, from fear of breaching Sirius's privacy, when a gleam of light caught Harry's eye. He walked toward Sirius's bed and saw nothing that would reflect light, so he continued his search by the bedside table and saw the gleam again. He moved a book over to reveal a mirror. But not just any mirror, the exact duplicate of a mirror that was currently residing in a hundred pieces within Harry's trunk.

Harry was speechless, or rather, thoughtless. He did not know what to think; he'd realized at the end of the school year that Sirius did not have the two-way mirror with him when he was fighting at the ministry but never thought to look for it.

All potential thoughts were lost when Harry heard someone coming up the stairs. He quickly pocketed the mirror and rushed out the door, leaving it a crack open just like he'd found it. Just as he successively closed it, ginger hair emerged from around the corner.

"Hello Harry," Ginny greeted.

"Hey Ginny," Harry replied.

"Ron told me to come see if you were done because he wants to have an exploding snap tournament before dinner," Ginny told Harry.

"Oh, yep, Kinglsey just left a second ago," Harry lied.

"How was your lesson? What'd you learn?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Wandless magic, but don't get excited, I haven't exactly mastered it yet," Harry reported.

"Sound's difficult, did you think so?"

"Well, it's all about controlling your emotions and using them as power, and well, I haven't been very good with emotions lately…" Harry muttered.

"I understand," Ginny placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "How could you be able to control your emotions when you have a dark lord to kill, a dead godfather, and a normal life to try and live?" Ginny agreed softly.

"Yes, exactly," Harry stuttered. Wait, since when did people actually understand him? Hermione would have just told him he needed to practice, Ron would have told him he'd get it sooner or later, but Ginny? She knew exactly what he was thinking, and, well it helped.

"Everything's a big change for you right now, isn't it? This must be very difficult; your life has a different meaning now. It may be hard, but when you think about it, it's what your destined to do, you know? I personally believe prophecies don't lie, and so then you _are _the best person to defeat you-know-who, you're who I would have picked at least." Ginny paused, "I know you'll get through this Harry, with your emotions in tact." She moved her hand to lightly touch his cheek before removing it slowly.

Harry smiled a great big smile, _I must look like an idiot with this big goofy smile, and we're talking about me killing someone! But she said it so nicely, and it really did make me feel good… _Harry struggled internally. Talking about emotional changes, this new sensation of wanting to hear more of what Ginny had to say was different. It's like she read his subconscious and reassured him of everything that he needed at the moment. He liked the support.

"Thanks," Harry finally piped, "you… really have no idea how much that helps. So… ready for some exploding snaps?" Harry asked, offering Ginny his arm.

Ginny accepted his arm as they began walking down the stairs, "Ready? Ron's already beat me in chess 3 times today alone! It's about time I kicked his arse in something!"

Harry chuckled, his last bit of frustration and gemotional trouble one and his heart beating a little bit faster than normal.

* * *


End file.
